Slayer Reborn
by APhantasm
Summary: Buffy Summers and Prue Halliwell died. That Powers that Be foresaw that Willow would resurrect Buffy and slide the balance of power from neutral to good. To prevent that from happening. They placed Buffy in Prue's body.
1. Chapter 1: Say What?

**Summary: **Buffy Summers and Prue Halliwell died. That Powers that Be foresaw that Willow would resurrect Buffy and slide the balance of power from neutral to good. To prevent that from happening. They placed Buffy in Prue's body.

**Pairings: **Buffy/? TBD

**A/U: **Buffy post season five. Charmed post season three

**Disclaimer: **I own neither BTVS or Charmed. Buffy is owned by Joss Whedon and Charmed is owned by CBS (I assume since they had been trying to get a reboot off the ground recently)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Say What?<strong>

Unbeknownst to Buffy and Dawn Summers the tower they stood on had not been stable, it had been built by crazy people after all. And with one burst of mystical energy from the portal and Buffy and Dawn fell over the edge. The sisters held on tightly to each other as they fell. "I love you," they said to each other knowing that once they hit the portal and then the ground below they would be dead.

As the sisters passed through the portal, a million jolts of electricity surged through their bodies, electrocuting them almost instantly. If it had not been a quick death, it would have been a most painful death and as the portal closed they fell to the ground below, dead.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Leo Wyatt orbed into the Manor in San Francisco. "Prue! Piper!" he yelled upon seeing his wife and sister-in-law. He rushed to Piper and healed her. As Piper woke he turned to Prue and tried to heal her as well, but it was too late. Prue Halliwell was dead.

"Leo, heal her," Piper said.

"I can't," Leo said, "I can't heal the dead."

As Leo took his hands away from Prue and turned to face his wife, Prue's body began to glow.

"Leo?" Piper said and Leo turned back to face Prue.

"I don't know," he said.

"I do."

Piper and Leo turned to face a man neither of them recognized. Piper raised her hands ready to freeze him.

"You're powers won't work on me," the man said. "The name's Whistler. I'm a balance demon, I work for the Powers that Be."

"Leo?" Piper asked questioningly as she wondered who these Powers that Be were.

"There are three factions," Leo said interpreting Piper's gaze as the question it was surely meant to be. "You've known about two of them. Good and Evil. The Source, darklighters, warlocks and demons are one faction. Elders, Whitelighters and witches are the other. The Powers that Be are the third. They strive for balance between good and evil." He looked at Whistler. "What do they want with Prue?"

"With Prue? Nothing. With her body, everything. One of their Champions along with her sister died in a battle. The Powers foresaw that if events were allowed to continue the Champion would be resurrected in a few months due to an extremely old spell by an extremely powerful witch. If events were allowed to play out the balance would slip from balance to good, irrevocably."

"That's good though isn't it?" Piper asked.

"I think so," Whistler said. "But the Powers are about balance, and believe good cannot exist without evil. Therefor they will do what they can to maintain balance. Hence what they are doing now. Your Prue is dead, her soul has gone on to Heaven, or whatever afterlife dimension you all believe in."

"You're putting your champion in Prue's body?" Leo asked as understanding entered his mind.

Whistler nodded. "Yes. The Powers knew that she would want to continue the fight against evil and are giving her the way to do that, even though it effectively removes her from their prevue."

"Who is she?" Leo asked.

"Buffy Summers," Whistler said. "The Slayer."

"The Slayer?" Piper asked.

"She fights mostly vampires and low level demons," Leo said. "She has several physical abilities, instead of magical powers, that help her. She can be an extreme force of good, if the Powers would allow her to be."

"There are one or two other things. To help Buffy she will receive Prue's memories. That is to help her integrate into your life. The other is that she is now pregnant."

"The sister?" Leo asked realizing that Whistler had mentioned the sister dying as well.

Whistler nodded. "She had it bad that kid. Created to hide the Key that opened the doorway between dimensions, then to die alongside her sister. Originally she was supposed to survive and live. But events can change with every choice that is made, as is the case here. So the Powers decided that she should have a normal life, or as normal as being the daughter of a Charmed One will be. But the thing is she will have a normal life, no fake memories. Well she like her sister will remember her old life, sure. But she will grow up this time around." He looked toward Prue. "I better go. Once the former Slayer wakes she won't be happy to see me. Something about wearing my ribcage as a hat." He then vanished.

Piper sighed as Cole shimmered in with Phoebe.

"I can't stay long," Cole said. "The Source likely will have bounty hunters on my tail. I will check in when I can." He shimmered out.

Phoebe noticed that Prue lay on the floor and then looked at Piper. "Prue?"

Piper sighed. "You explain it. I just …" she turned and walked up the stairs.

"Prue is dead," Leo said. "But she's not at the same time. Well her body is not anyways. Her soul went on to the afterlife." He proceeded to tell Phoebe everything that Whistler had told him and Piper. When he finished Phoebe was sitting on the couch overwhelmed.

Phoebe let out a sigh. "So she's our sister, yet she's not."

"That's pretty much it. As soon as she wakes. She may not remember you at first till Prue's memories surface," Leo said.

"Oh, what a headache. Will? Giles? Is Dawn okay?" Buffy said as she sat up. She looked around and frowned. Where was she? Then she spotted Leo and Phoebe. "Who are you two? Where am I?"

"Buffy Summers?" Leo asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yes."

"My name is Leo Wyatt and this is Phoebe Halliwell," Leo said as he introduced himself and Phoebe. "This is going to come as a shock to you. But you and your sister died."

"This doesn't look like heaven or any other afterlife dimension. So want to try that again?" Buffy asked.

Leo looked to Phoebe who sighed and walked over to her purse on the table next to the front door. She returned and handed a compact mirror to Prue.

Buffy looked into the mirror and her eyes went wide. What she saw in the mirror was a face not her own. "What's going on?"

"Buffy," Leo said. "Are you familiar with a balance demon by the name of Whistler?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "And if I see him again I will wear his ribcage as a hat. Is he responsible for the way I look?"

Leo sighed. "In a roundabout way, yes. The Powers that Be foresaw that a powerful witch would resurrect you and if that happened the balance of power would shift firmly to the side of the good. And being they are neutral, that was not a situation they wanted. And so they made it so you could not be resurrected. They placed you in the body of another who had died at the same time you had and then healed the body."

"Oh great, and I thought I would be done," Buffy said and then she remembered that Dawn had fallen off the platform with her. "What about Dawn? Did he say anything about my sister? Did she get to go to heaven?"

"No. Let me explain before you curse the Powers that Be or Whistler," Leo said when he saw that Prue was about let loose on the profanity. "Whistler explained how she came to you. Created to hide a mystical artifact that you were meant to protect. That in itself made it bad for her, especially when she found out."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Dawn questioned her mortality. So what did they do?"

"Congratulations," Phoebe said. "You're pregnant."

Buffy's eyes went wide as she looked down at her stomach.

Leo glared at Phoebe before turning his attention back to Buffy. "They decided to give her a new start in life. A start she should have had from the beginning. She like you will have her old memories. But the thing is she will grow up."

Buffy smiled as she thought about it and nodded. Out of everything the Powers had down to her over the years. She had to agree they had been specifically nice to Dawn. If she had to be pregnant with her sister, no she corrected herself, daughter. She would be happy to watch her get the chance to grow up.

"That said," Leo continued. "With time, how much time I don't know, you will get Prue's memories of her life."

"Wow," Buffy said. "I guess that will be nice since it seems I was stuck into someone elses family."

"Phoebe," Leo said. "Maybe you should show Buffy to Prue's room? Let her get some rest?"

Phoebe nodded and led Buffy up the stairs. Leo orbed out and up to Elderland.

"We know, Leo," Roland said. "We sensed Prue Halliwell's death and the Power that Be's meddling with her body. Is it true that the Slayer has been placed in the eldest Halliwell sister?"

"It's true," Leo said. "One of their balance demons told Piper and I about Buffy and her sister Dawn."

Roland sighed. "What do you recommend? Bind her powers? Wipe her memories?"

"I don't think Phoebe or Piper would allow that," Leo said. "While yes, Prue is dead. It is still her body. Besides they will need her for the Power of Three."

Roland nodded. "You are correct, of course. Ease her in gradually."

Leo nodded. "Alright."

In the Manor of the attic, Piper angrily placed five lit candles in a lose circle on the floor in front of the Book of Shadows. "I'm a witch, damn it. I've summoned people before and I'm gonna summon Prue now whether you like it or not! No more games, no more playing the good witch," she said as she moved to the Book of Shadows. "I want to talk to my sister. I need to talk to my sister. At the very least, you owe me that." She took a soul-cleansing breath, and then glared at the Book. "_Here these words. Hear my cry spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide._"

Inside the circle, white magical lights, ever-so-slowly began to appear as Piper looked up, her anger replaced by hopeful wonder as she stepped closer, anticipating Prue's appearance, but is, instead, surprised to see the ghost of Grams.

"Grams?" Piper asked.

Grams smiled. "Hello, my darling. How are you?"

Piper sighed. "How am I? Are you kidding? Do you guys not get the news up there?"

Grams nodded in understanding. She knew about Buffy Summers being placed by the meddling Powers that Be in Prue's body. "I meant, how are you holding up?"

"Not very well," Piper said. "I'm a little lost."

"I know, dear," Grams said. "In essence you've gained a new sister."

Piper nodded. "Which was why I was trying to summon Prue. I needed her advice."

Grams sighed. "You will just have to do with me."

"Why?" Piper asked.

"Because you're not allowed to see her, at least not for a while anyway."

"But, why?" Piper asked.

Grams sighed again and shook her head. "Because seeing Prue right now, speaking to her, keeps her alive for you. Which keeps you from being able to move on with your life, to continue with your destiny."

"A destiny with someone I don't know, that is walking around in Prue's body," Piper said.

"I know, sweetie. I know…" Grams said. "But if there's one thing you've learned over the last three years, it's that there's a reason for everything… which means there's a reason for this, too."

"What reason could there be?" Piper asked.

"Why don't you ask me," Buffy said from behind Piper.

Piper turned to face Buffy her eyes wide. She wondered how long Buffy had been standing there. "How …?"

"How long?" Buffy asked. "Long enough. Long enough to know you have doubts and wanted to speak to your real sister about them. I can understand that, believe me. I understand better than you think." She looked down at her stomach. The one person she could talk to out of everyone she had known was inside her.

Piper's gaze followed Buffy's to Buffy's stomach in understanding. In essence they had both lost someone. Unlike herself she knew the woman in front of her could get her sister back in the form of a daughter. But would it be the same? Especially when it would be several years before the baby would be old enough to understand let alone talk about any of this. "Let me introduce you to someone," she said. "Grams, this is Buffy Summers. Buffy, this is my grandmother, Penny Halliwell. We call her Grams."

"Hello, Mrs. Halliwell," Prue said.

"Please, call me Grams. I am in essence your grandmother now, too," Grams said.

Buffy nodded. "Maybe, in time."

"I understand," Grams said. "I think I will leave you two to chat." She then disappeared in the same swirl of white lights that brought her.

Piper moved to the couch and sat down. She then motioned for Prue to join her as she sighed. "I've not been the most welcoming."

Buffy nodded as she sat down. "I understand. Your sister wakes up and is not the person you know. I can relate. I actually had the whole body swap deal once before. I wish I could swap your sister back for you."

"Can I ask you," Piper said. "How did you …"

"Die?" Buffy asked as Piper nodded.

"The balance demon, Whistler," Piper said. "Only mentioned a battle and that both you and your sister died in it."

Buffy sighed. "Whistler told you that Dawn was created to hide the Key?"

"Yes," Piper said. "He told us that much."

"There was a Hellgod, called Glory. She was after the Key to go home. That was her whole plan, to go home. Not caring what would happen to us or this dimension in the process. She kidnapped Dawn and opened the portal. You see the portal would only open when blood was spilt at a specific time and place. I was too late to stop the portal from opening. But I knew since Dawn had been made from me that I could close it. You see it had to have the blood and when the blood stopped …"

Piper let out a gasp as she realized what Buffy was saying. "When she was dead, it would close?"

Buffy nodded. "And so since she was made from me I intended to jump, intending to close it. But well we were on top of this tower that was created by crazy people."

"Crazy people?" Piper asked.

"Glory did something to suck out their minds, making them crazy. But at the same time implanted them with instructions or knowledge that they needed to build the tower at a certain place. Anyways energy from the portal hit the tower and Dawn and I fell into the portal together. Short end of it, the portal basically electrocuted us and we died."

"Pretty much you died literally to save the world," Piper said as Buffy nodded. She looked at Buffy with new found admiration. Whistler and Leo had only mentioned briefly about the Slayer. She wondered if someone with Buffy's knowledge had been fighting alongside them the last three years, if things would have changed. Would Prue not have died?

Piper nodded slowly to herself. It would take time for her to come to love Buffy and her niece after she was born. But she was sure she would with time. "Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome," Buffy said.

"Now," Piper said. "I think its time we start your training."

"Training?" Buffy asked.

Piper smiled and nodded. "Prue, Phoebe and I are witches. Not your everyday witches, either. We have magical powers."

"Powers? Really?" Buffy asked. "Willow, never had powers."

"One of your friends?" Piper asked.

Buffy nodded. "Probably the one that was going to try and resurrect me."

Piper sighed. "That is so personal gain."

"Personal gain?" Buffy asked.

Piper nodded. "You know the Wiccan rede? That's not how it's supposed to work. We can't use our powers for our own personal gain, only for the benefit of others."

"That makes sense," Buffy said. "Kind of like with my, guess its my old Slayer abilities now. I never used them for personal gain. Though I am sure I could have gotten a job as a female wrestler or a bouncer at a night club or something."

"Okay," Piper said. "Prue seemed to always channel her anger into her power and then mentally moved something with her mind. It's called telekinesis."

Buffy looked around and then at the Book of Shadows. She concentrated on it as the podium on which the Book sat shook, but nothing else happened.

"That's a good first try," Piper said. "Work on that for a bit and we'll move on from there. If you need me I will be downstairs."

Buffy nodded as Piper headed down the stairs.

Piper passed her bedroom door as Leo walked out. "How's Buffy?" he asked.

"She's okay," Piper said. "She's practicing Prue's telekinesis in the attic. I thought I would have her practice that before moving on to astral projection."

"Good idea," Leo said. "How are you doing?"

Piper sighed. "I won't say its not been rough. I know that's not Prue. But seeing Buffy walking around in Prue's body, and knowing that Prue is dead …"

Leo nodded in understanding. "It will take time. Especially when you and Phoebe effectively don't get time to grieve."

"I'm grieving, Leo," Piper said. "I'm just …" She sighed as she laid her head on Leo's chest as tears flowed down her face. "I just didn't want to show it in front of Buffy. She already has it hard. She doesn't need me breaking down in front of her."

"You can still be Piper, Piper," Phoebe said from her bedroom door having heard the conversation. "If Buffy is anything like Prue. And from what we've learned so far she might be. You can still be yourself. I don't think she would expect you not to grieve for Prue."

"How are you holding up?" Piper asked.

"About the same," Phoebe said. "I was thinking of taking Buffy over to Social Services." Piper and Leo looked at her shocked at the suggestion. "Oh not to give up the baby. Dawn when she is born will be our niece after all. But none of us has any experience in having a baby. Maybe they can help direct her to someone that does or can help her in other ways in planning for Dawn's arrival."

"That is a good idea," Leo said.

The next day Phoebe and Buffy walked into South Bay Social Services.

"Yes?" the receptionist said as she spotted them.

"My sister," Phoebe said. "Is having a baby. And while she is keeping him or her. We just thought you might be able to help us with information and planning for when he or she arrives."

"Of course," the receptionist said. "Paige!"

A brunette woman walked over to Phoebe and Buffy and smiled. "Hi, I'm Paige Matthews. What is it I can do for you?"

"I'm looking for information and maybe some help in planning?" Prue said. "I'm having a baby."

"Congratulations," Paige said. "Mrs. …?"

"Bu … Prue, Prue Halliwell," Prue said as she shook Paige's hand. "And Ms."

Phoebe smiled. "Phoebe," she said as she took Paige's hand and gasped.

"You alright, Phoebe?" Buffy asked.

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Uhm. Is there a restroom I can use?"

"Sure," Paige said as she motioned toward the ladies room. "Over there."

"Thank you," Phoebe said as she walked into the restroom and locked the door behind her before pulling out her cell phone and dialing.


	2. Chapter 2: What Another Sister?

**Chapter 2: What Another Sister?**

"Piper," Phoebe said as she stood in the restroom of the South Bay Social Services. "I just had a premonition. A woman here is going to be attacked by a demon."

Piper sighed. Training Prue was going to be a hassle in amongst itself. Add on top of that she was just not sure she wanted to continue fighting evil without her real sister. "What did you see?"

"The demon that killed Prue and the doctor, killing this woman," Phoebe said.

"We can't do anything about Shax," Piper said. "He requires the Power of Three. Or have you forgotten, Prue is dead and were not sure if Buffy contributes to it or not."

"Well I got this premonition for a reason," Phoebe argued. "I can't just ignore it."

Piper sighed. "I know. I just don't know if I can still do it is all."

"Cole is at the mausoleum. I'll get him to take me and Buffy," Phoebe said. "Regardless if she can contribute to the Power of Three, she is still a witch with an active power. Besides her knowledge as the Slayer would be beneficial."

"Alright," Piper said. "Be careful."

Phoebe hung up her cell phone and walked out of the restroom and over to Prue and Paige. "Prue, we need to get home. Piper is having a family emergency."

Prue looked up at Phoebe confused for a second before she got the implication that something was up and they had to talk in private. She looked back at Paige. "Thanks for the information. I'll set up a meeting at Planned Parenting and talk to them."

"You're welcome," Paige said as Prue and Phoebe turned and left.

"What's up?" Prue asked.

"I had a premonition," Phoebe said once they were in Phoebe's car. "That girl that you were talking to is an innocent. In my premonition she was attacked by Shax the demon that killed Prue."

"I thought you guys said you needed the Power of Three for him," Prue said. "And that since I was not technically your sister, even though I am physically, that you weren't sure that the Power of Three would work with me."

"I'm hoping that two witches and a demon, might work," Phoebe said.

"Demon?" Prue asked.

Phoebe nodded. "My boyfriend, Cole," she said. "He's half demon."

Prue nodded. She knew that not all demons were evil. Some were good. Angel was one such, but that was because he had a soul. Spike had gone from evil to more morally grey. But since the government had implanted that chip she couldn't say he was completely evil anymore. Despite her hatred of the balance demon, Whistler. She knew he was not evil either; he was more morally grey also. So she knew that Cole might be a good guy even if he was a demon.

That night somewhere in San Francisco, Phoebe and Prue are bundled up in the observation room of a skyscraper. Phoebe looked out through the binoculars as Cole approached from behind, handing Phoebe and Prue each a cup of coffee.

"Here," Cole said as Phoebe lowered the binoculars, and turned to take the cup.

"Thanks," Prue said.

"Oh, thanks. I think this is the right place. But maybe we should try one of the other rooftops just to make sure," Phoebe said.

Prue shook her head. "Or maybe we should follow your first instincts and stay right here. Believe me after five years as the Slayer I have come to trust my instincts. And if this is the right one then this is where we need to be."

"Okay. But, what if I'm wrong? That girl will get killed," Phoebe said.

"You can't save every innocent, Phoebe, or stop every demon," Cole said as he hugged Phoebe from behind.

"He's right," Prue said. "I learned that lesson early on. You can't save everyone one."

"Yeah. Well, I have to stop this one," Phoebe said. "I just hope that by you and me saying the vanquishing spell, it wounds him enough that Cole can take him out."

"I got a better idea. How about you and me go someplace? You know? Drop off the face of the earth together, disappear?" Cole said as he snuggled Phoebe from behind.

Prue rolled her eyes.

Phoebe smiled. "Hmm. Don't tempt me."

"Things have changed, Phoebe. We can't pretend we can go on like this. It's only a matter of time before The Source finds me, which means every minute you and Buffy are with me, you both are in danger," Cole said.

Phoebe sighed. "I've lost too much already Cole. I'm not losing you, too."

Prue sighed. She knew that Phoebe was talking about losing Prue, the real Prue. She knew even though she was now in Prue's body that she was a poor substitute for the sister Phoebe and Piper had lost. "You won't lose anyone else, not if I have anything to say about it."

Phoebe looked to Prue and smiled. "Thanks," she said.

Just then Cole noticed Paige and a man step out on the helipad of a neighboring building. "Ooh, looks like your instincts were right."

"We've gotta shimmer over there!" Phoebe said as she turned and raised the binoculars.

"And tell her what?" Buffy asked. "That a demon's gonna attack?"

"I have to agree with Buffy, I think we should stay right here," Cole said as they waited.

Phoebe lowered the binoculars and turned toward Prue and Cole. "All right, any ideas?"

"A couple," Cole said as he watched Paige and the man kissing.

"I meant about what we do now," Phoebe said as she smacked Cole. "I mean, we can't just keep watching, it's not right."

Buffy took the binoculars from Phoebe and took a look. "You're right. We have to do something." Just then a moving tornado materialized out of thin air and raced toward Paige and the man. "Guys, how did that demon appear?"

"Kind of in a tornado," Phoebe said. "Why?"

"He's there," Buffy said as she watched Shax attack Paige, who orbed out and back in. "What the heck?"

"What?" Phoebe said.

"She did that thing, Leo does," Buffy said.

"She orbed?" Cole asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yes."

"Come on!" Cole said as he grabbed Phoebe and Buffy and shimmered out. They shimmer in to find a shocked Paige staring at them.

"What the hell?" Paige asked.

"Get outta here! Hurry! Go! Go!" Phoebe said as Cole fired an energy ball at Shax, but it barely fazed him.

Cole fired another energy ball as Paige, freaked, took off running down the stairs. "Say the spell, damn it!"

Phoebe held up the paper in front of herself and Buffy as they recited the spell written on it. "_Evil wind that blows, that which forms below. No longer may you dwell. Death takes you with this spell_."

Shax, managed to get off a concussive blast at Cole, which knocked Cole over the stairway rail. Just as he, in agony, turned into a ghostly wind and streaked away from the scene.

Phoebe, panic-stricken, ran to the edge as Cole plummeted five stories. "Cole!" she yelled as Cole shimmered next to her and Buffy. She gasped as she hugged him, afraid she had almost lost him. "That was too close..."

"It was," Buffy said. "Good thing you can do that shimmering thing."

Cole smiled. "It's okay, I'm all right. I just don't know about your innocent."

They rushed back to the Manor and filled in Leo and Piper in on what Buffy had seen.

"Are you sure she orbed? Are you sure that it wasn't something else?" Leo asked.

Buffy sighed. She wished Giles was there he would have believed her. "It looked exactly like what you do. She disappeared, then bright white, shiny thingies came and then she reappeared. What else could it be?"

Leo shook his head. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Why not?" Cole asked.

"Because why would Shax want to kill a Whitelighter?" Leo suggested.

Cole shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't know she's a Whitelighter."

"Right, the Source sends out his personal assassin, but doesn't know who he's after?" Leo said.

Suddenly Piper clattered the pots that she's washing, noticeably.

"Is it possible that she didn't know that she was a Whitelighter?" Prue asked.

Leo shook his head. "No. Why?"

"Because she acted as if she didn't," Cole said. "She acted just as surprised as we were when she orbed out."

"Well that doesn't make any sense either," Leo said.

"Okay, why don't you go up and ask the Elders what does make sense so we don't go risking our lives again?" Phoebe suggested.

Leo looked first at Piper and then Buffy. He knew that Piper was still grieving for Prue and was sure it would take time. The question was would it be a good idea to leave her right now. "I'll be right back." He then orbed out.

"Maybe I should, uh, go to the other side and see what I can find out," Cole said as Phoebe looked at him.

"Is that a good idea?" Buffy asked. "Aren't they looking for you for saving Phoebe?"

"They are," Cole said as he looked to Phoebe. "I'll be careful. Nobody'll see me. Besides, it could be good to me to go back down, confuse any bounty hunters that might be trying to track me. Don't worry. I won't disappear." He kissed Phoebe on the cheek and shimmered out.

Buffy noticed that Piper was hunched over the sink and nudged Phoebe.

Phoebe nodded and moved closer to Piper. "Hey, you okay?"

Piper sighed. "Yeah. Sure, why not? We could have a funeral tomorrow. Especially since we didn't get to have one for Prue. Maybe we'll luck out and these Powers that Be will put someone in your body after you die."

"Piper…" Phoebe said as Buffy kept a respectable distance from the sisters.

"I'm sorry," Piper said as she turned and left the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, too," Buffy said.

"For what?" Phoebe asked.

"For being placed in her body,"Buffy said. "At least then you could have had a funeral for her. But here you have to pretend she hasn't died all because of the meddling Powers that Freaking Be."

"Oh honey," Phoebe said. "No. Don't think this is your fault for their stuff. And don't apologize for them."

Buffy sighed and nodded as she too turned and left the kitchen.

Phoebe sighed and shook her head. "Poor Buffy, poor Piper. I wish there was something I could to do to help them."

"Only time," came Grams voice.

"I know," Phoebe said.

Later Phoebe and Buffy sat next to the fireplace in the parlor.

Piper walked toward them and handed Phoebe a teacup. "Here, this should help. It's chamomile. I had three cups," she said as she handed Buffy a teacup also and then sat on the floor next to them.

"Thanks," Phoebe said as took a sip and set it aside. "Doesn't seem real, does it?"

Piper shook her head. "No offense to you Buffy, but no. What are we gonna do with all of her stuff? What are we going to do with her car?"

"Well the cloths at least we could give to Buffy," Phoebe said. "She's going to need something to wear till she can get her own. The car …"

"Don't look at me on that front," Buffy said. "I never learned to drive. I'm sure when Prue's memories surface that will change. But till then."

"Do you want it?" Piper asked Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head. "No, maybe we should save it for Buffy till Prue's memories do surface?" she said as Piper nodded. She took Piper's hands in her own. "We're gonna get through this, you know. We just have to stick together. All three of us."

Piper nodded. "You're right," she said as Leo orbed into the room.

"Well?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, they don't know anything about her, so she's definitely not a Whitelighter," he said.

"Then why can she orb, Leo?" Buffy asked.

"They can't explain it," Leo said as Piper, Phoebe and Prue stood up.

"Then how is it possible that they don't kn…" Phoebe started.

"Unless," Buffy interrupted. "If she is not a Whitelighter? Could she be a witch?"

"Witches don't get the power to orb," Leo said as Cole shimmered into the room.

"Whew. Sorry I took so long. I had to dodge a couple of bounty hunters," Cole said.

"Did you find anything out?" Leo asked.

"You have no idea what I found out," Cole said. "Turns out the Source doesn't think she's a Whitelighter at all. In fact, he thinks she might be another… Charmed One. That's why he put Shax on it. He thought he ended the Power of Three with Prue's death. He doesn't seem to know about Buffy being placed in her body. How that is possible I have no idea. But he's worried that this girl may somehow reconstitute the Power of Three."

Phoebe shook her head. "No, but that's not possible. Is that possible?" she asked as Leo shrugged. Suddenly Piper took off heading for the stairs. "Piper?"

"Grams said something about continuing with our destiny. What if she wasn't talking about Buffy?" Piper said. "What if she was talking about this girl? What if were right and without this girl there is no Power of Three? So it's time to summon Grams and find out what she knows." She led them upstairs and moved to the Book of Shadows. "_Here these words. Hear my cry spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide!_" She let out a semi-satisfied sigh as Grams appeared in a bright light.

"Piper? Why are you calling? P-Phoebe, B-Buffy, wha-what's going on?" Grams said.

"Grams, why does the Source think that the Charmed Ones can be reconstituted?" Piper asked. "Why does he not know about Buffy being in Prue's body?"

"On the first question, I do - I don't know what you're talking about," Grams said. "On the second, it is a mystery to me. Maybe you should ask the Powers that Be on that?"

Piper looked to Leo who nodded and orbed out. She turned back to Grams. "You know what, Grams? You were a lousy liar when you were alive, and now as a ghost, you're worse."

Phoebe nodded. "If you know something, Grams, you have to tell us. We deserve to know."

Grams sighed. "I can't. I'm sworn to secrecy."

"By who?" Prue asked.

"By me," Patty Halliwell said as she appeared right next to Grams in a bright light. "By me. Hello, Buffy."

"Mom?" Piper said.

Patty sighed. "We didn't tell anybody because we were afraid that there would be reprisals, afraid that, you girls would be denied your powers. Your birthright. It happened after your father and I were divorced, when Sam and I were together."

"Sam?" Buffy and Cole asked.

"Mom's Whitelighter," Phoebe told Buffy.

"Hmm," Cole said. "Apples don't fall far from the forbidden tree, I see."

"Shh!" Piper said. "Go on, mom."

Patty nodded. "You and Phoebe were just toddlers. You just thought Mommy got a little fat," she said as she smiled. "You never knew I was pregnant."

"I was the only one who knew," Grams said.

"And Sam, obviously," Patty said.

Grams nodded. "Right. Well, yes, of course."

Patty smiled. "We wanted to keep the baby, of course. But mother –"

"Well, I-I knew it would be disastrous," Grams said. "You know, before you and Leo, Piper, it wasn't just forbidden. It was unthinkable for witches to be with Whitelighters. I mean, let alone have children with them."

"So, that's why we had to - why we decided… to give the baby up. Sam and I took her to a local church as soon as she was born. And we asked the nun there to find a home for her, and she found one. A very, very good home," Patty said.

Grams nodded. "Yes."

"All right, hold it. Wait just one minute. Are you telling me, that that girl, our innocent, is really… our sister?" Phoebe asked.

Patty nodded. "Your baby sister."

"Their baby half-sister," Grams said.

"But by my half, which makes her a sister witch," Patty said. "Well, actually, not yet anyway."

Just then Leo orbed back in. "Well I found out why the Source might not think Buffy is alive in Prue's body. The Powers are shielding her for some reason."

"Likely till all four of you are here together by the Book. Just like before," Patty said.

"All four of us?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, even you Buffy," Patty said.

"Charmed," Grams said. "Again."

"And I thought my family was screwed up," Cole said as Piper glared at him.

A man, Cortez, walked into the attic followed by Darryl Morris. "Well, I'll be damned."

"Darryl, do something!" Piper said.

Darryl shook his head. "He's a cop, Piper. And he's got a search warrant."

Cortez nodded. "And believe me, I've found what I've been searching for," he said as Cole moved slightly towards him as he turned his gun on Cole. "Ah-ah-ah-ah. Don't move. I'll shoot."

"Then so will I," Cole said.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Cole…"

"Okay Inspector, just put the gun down. There is a very good explanation for all of this. Feel free to chime in anytime, guys," Phoebe said.

Cortez shook his head. "My whole life, I suspected evil magic was real," he said as Prue rolled her eyes, "that there was something more. I've seem too many horrible things in the job to suspect otherwise, not the least of which is the murder that happened here."

"Wait. Are you accusing us?" Piper asked.

Cortez smirked. "I've just begun to accuse you, lady!"

"All right, fine. You caught us. Congratulations. So what are you gonna do about it? Shoot us?" Grams said.

Phoebe sighed. "Easy, Grams. Not all of us are dead, remember?"

"All right, look, you can't arrest us, especially not them. Nobody will ever believe you," Leo said.

Cortez nodded "Maybe not at first. I'm putting this whole place under constant surveillance. I'm taping your every move. Sooner or later, I'll catch you doing something uh, supernatural, and then…" he said as Darryl knocked him out with the butt of his gun. He then fell to the floor.

"I think you've been through enough, huh?" Darryl said. Each of the sisters had been question on their involvement in the doctor's death, whom had died at the same time Prue had.

"Thank you," Piper said.

"Darryl, go, get out of here. We don't want you to take the fall for this," Phoebe said as she walked over to Darryl.

Darryl shook his head. "No, it's okay."

"No, it's not. This is our problem," Phoebe said. "He wants to expose us, not you. Let us take care of this, please?"

"If you need me, you know where to find me, huh?" Darryl said as Phoebe nodded and turned to Cole. He turned and left the attic.

"It doesn't solve your problem. He's gonna wake up eventually. You've just bought yourself some time," Cole said.

"What you're gonna need, especially if you're wanna save your…" Leo said.

"Sister?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Just write a spell. Get rid of him," Grams said.

Buffy frowned. "Uh, get rid of him?"

Grams nodded. "Well, you know what I mean. Dump him somewhere. Anywhere. With all the witches in this room, we oughta be able to do something with him. I mean, just start rhyming. Uh, take him back, take him away. Remove him now. Don't let him stay."

Buffy glared at Grams. "That is so what Piper called, personal gain. I won't be a party to it. If you all want to get rid of him. Do it without me." She turned and headed down the stairs. She noticed that Paige was standing in the foyer.

"I, the door was open. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here," Paige said as she turned to leave.

"Stop her, Buffy," came Grams voice.

Buffy smiled. "No, that's alright. Uhm." She looked at the stairs and saw Phoebe and Piper standing on the bottom step. "We were just coming to look for you."

"You were?" Paige asked, confused.

Phoebe nodded. "Yep. Come on in. Welcome. I'm Phoebe. Of course you knew that. And you know Prue. And this is..." she said as Buffy guided Paige over to her, Piper and Leo.

"Piper. I know. I've been to your club. Pretty great," Paige said.

"Thank you. And you are?" Piper asked.

"Paige," Buffy said. "Her name is Paige."

"Another P," Phoebe said with a look that said she didn't believe that it was a coincidence.

"It's nice to meet you," Piper said as she shook Paige's hand.

Suddenly a bright blue light shone over Paige, Phoebe, Buffy and Piper.

"Okay. What was that?" Paige asked when the light disappeared.

"I think that means you're supposed to be here," Leo said as the door slammed open and a strong wind knocked Leo, Buffy, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige backwards.

Shax materialized and walked closer intending to strike as Leo jumped on his back.

"Run! Get upstairs!" Leo shouted.

"Leo?!" Piper cried as she, Buffy, Phoebe, and Paige ran upstairs and into the attic.

"What are we doing? What is that thing?" Paige asked.

"We'll explain later," Buffy said as Piper flipped through the pages of the Book of Shadows.

"Okay, just say this spell out loud with us, okay?" Piper said.

"Spells, what are you guys, witches?" Paige asked.

Phoebe nodded. "And so are you. We hope."

"Well, we're about to find out," Prue said as the strong wind broke through the attic door and Shax materialized.

"_Evil wind that blows, that which forms below. No longer may you dwell. Death takes you with this spell,_" Buffy, Phoebe, Piper and Paige chanted as Shax moaned in pain and then was vanquished.

"It's not enough. Shax was just the messenger. We gotta get the Source," Phoebe said.

"The Source of what?" Paige asked.

Piper sighed. "Of all evil."

"What have you guys turned me into?" Paige said as she turned and ran out the attic.

"Paige?" Buffy called out as she, Piper, and Phoebe chased after Paige.

"Wait," Phoebe and Piper said.


	3. Chapter 3: Charmed

**Chapter 3: Charmed**

In the underworld the Source appeared before the Oracle. "My assassin failed. The witch is alive."

The oracle nodded. She dreaded to tell him what her visions had revealed. The eldest Charmed One was still alive. That the Powers that Be had placed one of their champions in her body. That the reason she had not seen this was because of their meddling. "Yes, I know."

"You told me her future was short-lived. You told me—"

Oracle sighed. "I told you only that it appeared to be short-lived. Seeing into the future is not always exact, especially when magical forces are at play," she said trying to drop the hint that there was more that she had not seen till recently.

"The Power of Three is strong. She'll be almost untouchable now that she's reunited with her new sisters," the Source said.

"Then you will not like what I have to say," the oracle said.

"What?"

"Prue Halliwell is alive."

"What?" The Source said outraged. "How could you not see that?"

"The Powers that Be."

"Those meddling fools?" the Source said. "Why would … they placed one of their Champions in her body?"

"Yes, my lord," the oracle said.

"The Power of Four will be stronger than the Power of Three was. Both sisters will be untouchable," the Source said.

Oracle smiled. "Once the bond is formed, perhaps, but it has yet to for either of them, which means they're both vulnerable, easily swayed," she said as she moved next to the Source. "Forty-eight little hours. The window of opportunity agreed to eons ago by both sides to protect free will." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "The great flaw in the grand design."

"They haven't chosen the other side yet?" the Source asked.

"Well, they are both young, confused, don't know which way to turn. You must seduce one of them into using her powers for evil, then she will become evil. And then she in turn can seduce her other sister into using her powers for evil also. And that's even better than killing them, which, of course you could still do. You need to get close to one of them, read her soul, corrupt it, and then both of them will be yours."

At the Manor Piper retrieved an ice pack from the freezer and placed it gently on Leo's sore neck. "I don't understand how you can keep healing innocents, but you can't figure out a way to heal yourself," she said.

"It's kind of hard to heal myself when I'm knocked out," Leo said as Phoebe walked in followed by Prue.

"Leo, how is possible for an angel to even get knocked out? I mean, you are, after all, technically dead," Phoebe said as Buffy rolled her eyes.

"You've known him for three years, and now you're asking these questions?" Buffy said.

"Well…" Phoebe said.

"I think the more appropriate question is, how does a Whitelighter get somebody knocked up? " Piper asked as Phoebe giggled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo asked.

"What do you think it means?" Buffy asked. "She's asking about Paige. Just as their Grams said. It was unthinkable before you and Piper for Whitelighters to even be in a relationship let alone have a baby with a witch."

Leo sighed. "I swear, the Elders had no idea that she even existed, or that she was your sister."

"Sister witch," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "Half-witch, half-Whitelighter. Let's not forget that little surprise," she said as she helped Leo with the ice pack. "I still can't believe that Mom kept that secret from us."

"Well, it sounded like she didn't have much of a choice," Phoebe said.

Piper sighed. "We're her daughters. She could've found a way to share that information with us," she said as the doorbell rang. "That better not be another long-lost relative."

"I'll get it," Buffy said as she walked into the foyer, with Piper, Phoebe and Leo following. She opened the door to find Darryl there.

"Hi Prue," Darryl said.

"Hi," Buffy said with a sigh. Even after three days. She still found it hard to be called by a different name. She closed the door as Darryl walked in.

"Where's Cortez?" Darryl asked looking around.

"Who?" Leo said with a look of confusion.

"Inspector Cortez—the one I hit over the head, the one you said you would take care of. He's missing. Police inspectors are not supposed to be missing. Where is he?" Darryl said.

"Don't look at me," Buffy said. "I have no idea. They cast some spell and sent him to Timbuktu."

"Timbuktu?" Darryl said.

Piper nodded. "It rhymed with undo."

"It's okay. Cole went to get him," Leo said.

"Cole?" Darryl said as Cole shimmered in by the stairs.

Phoebe smiled. "Cole!"

"Wait," Cole said as he readied an energy ball just as a bounty hunter appeared. He threw the energy ball vanquishing the bounty hunter. "Damn bounty hunters … they're like gnats."

"Where's the inspector?" Darryl asked.

"Don't worry," Cole said. "I found him. Moved him to a place he can't tell a soul what he saw. Literally."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Where'd you put him?" Leo added as Cole gestured below him.

"In the basement?" Phoebe asked.

Piper shook her head. "No. I think he means a little bit further down than that."

"Oh," Phoebe said with realization.

"Cole, he's a cop. He's one of the good guys," Leo said.

"He's also the one who can expose them as witches. I think that you, above anybody, would want to avoid that at all costs," Cole said.

"Not at that cost. We have to save him," Leo said.

Darryl frowned. "Save him? What do you mean, save him? Wh-what's going on?"

"You know what, Darryl? We are going to take care of this whole mess," Phoebe said.

"Wait a second. Hold…" Darryl said.

Buffy sighed. "Don't worry about it. I will make sure they return your Inspector Cortez safe and sound," she said as she escorted Darryl out the door. She closed the door and then returned to the others.

"Okay. Maybe you can talk to the Inspector, reason with him," Piper said as Phoebe hugged Cole.

"And what if he can't?" Cole asked. "What if you two get exposed? What's to say the same thing won't happen to you that happened to Prue?"

"Well it's a risk we'll have to take," Phoebe said.

"Yeah well, you know what? There's another risk you guys have to worry about. On the way back, I heard gargoyles," Cole said.

"Gargoyles? You mean like statues?" Buffy asked.

Cole nodded. "That's only in they're in their resting state. They come alive to ward off evil. In this case, I think they're trying to ward off the Source. I think he's surfaced."

"Wait - what? He's here? Now? Where?" Phoebe asked.

Cole shrugged. "I don't know. Could be anywhere. Or anyone."

"Probably came for Paige, but she doesn't stand a chance against him," Leo said.

"Or me," Buffy said as they all looked at her. "I'm new also, right? Once the light show went off that accompanied Paige's arrival here in the manor, I bet you the Source now knows that I'm alive in Prue's body. He's going to want me dead, too. Add on top of that I'm just as vulnerable as Paige, even though she doesn't know what her power is yet, I know what mine is, and I am still learning to use it."

"She's right," Cole said.

Phoebe sighed. "Leo, we don't stand a chance against him. Buffy is right she's still learning and Paige doesn't know about hers. We need either of them for him."

Leo nodded in agreement. "I know."

"Can you sense her?" Piper asked.

Leo shook his head. "I don't think so. She's too new."

"Well then we just have to start with the church Mom was talking about," Piper said.

"Piper…" Phoebe started.

"What? Phoebe, I'm not crazy about it, either, but we can't just do anything about it - now. Mom wouldn't want us to... and neither would Prue," Piper said.

Buffy watched as Phoebe head up the stairs. She looked over at Piper who grabbed a phone book. She knew both sisters were dealing with the grief in their own way. Phoebe's up till now had been to delve headlong into saving Paige, distract her from it. Piper had been the one to show it. Now their roles were reversed she was sure of it. Piper was distracting herself from it and Phoebe was showing it.

She headed upstairs to find Phoebe. "Phoebe?" she asked as she looked into Phoebe's room and frowned when she saw it was empty. She then heard something from her room. She turned and crossed the hall to her room and found Phoebe there holding a leather jacket. "Phoebe?"

Buffy watched as Phoebe turned around clutching the leather jacket, her face stained with tears.

"I borrowed this from Prue without asking," Phoebe said. "When my boyfriend's cat peed on it."

Suddenly Buffy had a flash of memory and she saw the events surrounding the jacket. "She was really pissed off."

Phoebe nodded. "I thought she was gonna have a stroke," she said as she wiped her nose. "But the funny thing was, she got mad at Piper because she thought that Piper was the one that had borrowed it."

"And Piper never told her the truth," Buffy said.

Phoebe nodded as she sobbed and sat down on a red sofa. She looked at Buffy who sat next to her. "I miss her so much."

"I miss her too," Piper said from the doorway causing Buffy and Phoebe to look up. "I was wondering when you were gonna let go."

"I was just … I was trying to," Phoebe said as Buffy handed her a tissue. "Thanks. Stay strong, you know, keep it together for both of you. Buffy's in a body not her own. She didn't need us both breaking down. And you, Piper … Well I put all my energy into trying to save … Paige because I figured only one of us could break down at a time. Otherwise, we'd both be useless." She sat up as Piper moved and sat next to her opposite Buffy. "I'm scared, Piper. I'm really, really scared. She always took the lead. She was … she was our big sister. How are we supposed to go on without her? How are we supposed to go up against the Source without her?"

Piper sighed. "I don't know. But I do know that we can't let the bastard get Paige or Buffy, either so, no matter what we think or feel, they're both our sisters. And sisters protect each other."

Buffy smiled at Piper. "Really?"

"Really, Buffy," Piper said. "You may not be Prue. But you were made a part of this family when the Powers placed you in her body. That makes you a sister by default, even if you hadn't originally been born one. Besides you're a sister in other ways also. In ways that matter. Such as this, coming up here to comfort Phoebe. You didn't have to."

"I know I didn't have to," Buffy said. "But I knew it was what not only Prue wanted. But what was needed."

_"The Power of Three."_

"Did you hear that?" Buffy asked.

Piper and Phoebe nodded. "Yes," Piper said as she smiled. "That was Grams telling us we're connected."

Across town at a church Paige and a nun, Sister Agnes, were in the church office.

"I was just about your age, when they came," Sister Agnes said as she retrieved a box from a trunk and put it on the table.

"They? My mother and my father?" Paige asked.

Sister Agnes nodded. "They came in a swirl of bright white lights just like, angels."

"White lights. What do you mean?" Paige asked.

Sister Agnes smiled. "Well, that's how they appeared, with you in their arms! I was stunned. I - I didn't know what to think. They said that you were in great danger, that they had no other choice but to give you up, to protect you."

"Danger? What kind of danger?" Paige asked.

Sister Agnes shrugged. "Well, they didn't say. But I could tell from their pain that it must be very real. They asked me to find you a good home, a safe home, and to keep their secret… until you came looking."

"But how could they know?" Paige wondered.

Sister Agnes smiled. "Because you come from them, my dear. As wonderful and precious as your adoptive parents were to you, you still come from angels," she said as she reached into the box and pulled out a blanket with a P on it. "They asked me to save this for you for this day. It's what they bundled you up in. Your mother had only one request - that your name began with a P." Just then a knock came at the office door as Prue, Piper and Phoebe entered. "Yes, may I help…"

"Hi," Piper said as she froze Sister Agnes. "Hey, what's up? We need to get you out of here."

"What did you do to her?" Paige asked.

"Oh, she just froze her. She'll be fine," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "Yeah. Lucky I didn't blow her up. My powers have been a little off lately."

"Piper," Phoebe said as she pointed at the blanket Paige is holding.

"Is that our blanket?" Piper asked as she reached for the blanket causing Paige to pull it away from her.

"No! That's mine! Leave me alone!" Paige said as she turned to leave.

"Piper," Buffy said. "This is a delicate situation."

"I know, Buffy," Piper said. "I know."

They turned and followed Paige out into the cathedral.

"Paige. Paige. Paige," Phoebe said.

"Stop or I'll freeze!" Piper said as Paige stopped and turned to face them, causing them to stop as well.

"She's a witch. You can't freeze her," Phoebe whispered.

"She doesn't know that," Piper whispered back.

Buffy sighed as she lowered her voice. "Can we do without the threats? She's your sister after all, not a demon you need to slay."

"Will you please just leave me alone?" Paige said as she started for the door again.

"Look, we know what you're going through. We went through the same thing when we first found out we were witches, too," Phoebe said.

Buffy thought back to when she had first been approached by Merrick and nodded. She had not taken it any better than Paige had.

"Look. You just gotta trust us. Somebody very, very bad is after you," Piper said as Paige stopped and turned to face them again.

"Trust you? You just froze a nun? How do I know you're not the bad ones?" Paige asked.

"She kind of has a point," Buffy said.

Piper sighed. "Well if we are, then you are, sister."

"Piper," Phoebe and Prue said as Paige turned to leave.

"What? Fine. Then either of you try," Piper said.

Phoebe looked to Buffy who motioned for her to go ahead. She looked toward Paige. "You have a magical power, you know," she said as Paige for the third time stopped and turned to face them. "Mmm. At least, if you're really a Charmed One, you do. And the sooner you learn it, the sooner you'll be able to protect yourself."

"I have a power?" Paige asked.

"According to the prophecy," Piper said.

Buffy gasped out as a memory surged forth.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

_"Look, I have just found out that I'm a witch, that my sisters are witches, and that we have powers that will apparently unleash all forms of evil. Evil that is apparently going to come looking for us. So excuse me Phoebe, but I'm not exactly in a homeopathic mood right now."_

Phoebe smiled. "_Then move you headache out of your mind," she said as Prue stared angrily at her. Just then a bottle of aspirin flew off the shelf and Prue caught it. "You move things when you're upset."_

Prue shook her head. _"This is ridiculous! I thought that you landed on your arm, not your head."_

_"You don't believe me," Phoebe said._

_"Of course I don't believe you," Prue said._

_"Ro—ger," Phoebe said as a few bottles of aspirin fly off the shelf. "Now let's talk about Dad and see what happens."_

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Are you alright?" Piper whispered to Buffy.

"Memory," Buffy whispered. "One of Prue's."

"How does it work?" Paige asked Phoebe who had told Paige that they believed she had Prue's telekinesis.

"They did say you would get her memories, eventually," Piper whispered.

"You concentrate on an object like that candle right there," Phoebe said. "She pointed at the candle a few feet away. "And then you just wave your arm at it." She demonstrated by waving her arm.

Paige tried it, but nothing happens. She looked to Buffy, Piper and Phoebe.

"Or, uh, you could squint your eyes. Prue used to squint her eyes in the beginning," Piper said..

Paige waved her hand at the candle and squinted but nothing happened to the candle. She turned back to the others. "Well, maybe I'm not one of you after all if I can't even make that candle…" she said as she raised out her hand in the candle's direction. The candle orbed out and back in in her outstretched hand. Paige handed the candle slowly to Phoebe. "Oh."

"So perhaps the Whitelighter in her makes it work differently?" Phoebe suggested as she blew out the candle and set it aside.

"That would explain," Buffy said, "how she and I can have my power at the same time."

Suddenly they heard the screeching of gargoyles from outside.

"What is that?" Paige asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't know," she said as the door opened.

"Paige," a man called who was kneeling on the steps in front of the door.

"Shane?" Paige said as she rushed help him. "What's the matter? My god, what happened?"

"I don't know. Someone's after me," Shane said as Paige helped him up.

"Paige!" Phoebe said as she, Buffy and Piper ran after Paige.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," Paige said.

"Paige! Come back!" Phoebe shouted as Shane turned and fired a red bolt at her, Buffy and Piper. They flew backwards landing at the front of the church. "Whoo!"

"What the hell was that?" Piper asked

Back at the manor Buffy, Piper and Phoebe sat on the couch in the conservatory watching as Cole and Leo paced in front of them.

"So the Source was there, at the church?" Leo asked.

"Well, the gargoyles weren't exactly whistling Dixie, Leo," Buffy said with a role of her eyes.

"Plus, something pretty powerful knocked us on our asses," Piper said as Cole sat down.

"But if he was there, why didn't he try to kill Paige?" Cole asked. "Or Buffy?"

"Maybe he didn't want to go up against the Charmed Ones," Phoebe said.

Buffy shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. He knows that Paige and I are new to our powers."

"Buffy's right," Cole said. "If ever there was a time to attack…"

"Wait a minute. What if he's not trying to kill either of them anymore? What if he's trying to lure first Paige and then later Buffy to his side?" Leo asked.

"Translation please?" Phoebe said.

"The mythological window," Cole said.

Leo nodded. "There's a window of opportunity, an opening."

"Forty-eight hours," Cole said.

"Right, forty-eight hours where a nascent witch who hasn't chosen to use her powers for good or evil yet can be swayed either way," Leo said as he sat down.

"Wait," Buffy said. "How does he think I can be swayed? I've already chosen."

"As Buffy Summers," Leo said. "You've already chosen. As Prue Halliwell, you have yet to. You have yet to use your powers other than to practice them."

Cole nodded in agreement. "If he could tempt you or Paige, entice either of you. If he can get either of you to use your powers for evil."

"Then Paige or I become would become evil," Buffy said.

"Forever," Leo said as Phoebe sighed.

"Who makes up these cockamamie rules?" Piper asked as Cole looked down at the ground and Leo looked up at the heavens. "Oh, never mind…"

"Okay, so we have less than 24 hours to get to Paige and no idea how to find her," Paige said.

"But I bet the Source does," Piper said.

Moments later Cole looked out the attic window at Cortez, who leaned against his car. "Are you sure you don't want me to turn Belthazor loose on Cortez just for a minute or two?"

Leo shook his head. "No. He doesn't have anything on the girls yet. Besides, now is no time to be blurring the line between good and evil."

"Leo is right," Buffy said from where she sat on the couch.

"This is useless," Phoebe said as she closed the Book of Shadows. "We're never gonna find Paige without a little help." Suddenly the book opened on its own and flipped through the pages, stopping at a page a second later. "Works everytime."

"How does it do that?" Buffy asked.

"Were not entirely sure," Piper said. "The Book seems to be at least semi-sentient as it can protect itself from evil. That said though Grams has been known to exercise her ghostly powers and help us also."

"Okay, an enchantment spell," Phoebe said as she looked at the page. "Wait. How is this gonna help find her?"

"Well, maybe it's not to find Paige," Buffy suggested.

"I think Buffy might be right," Piper said. "Maybe it's so we can ID the Source. See the last line? It's, _So she can reveal the evil within._"

"But that'll only help if we can find him?" Phoebe inquired.

"Maybe we can, or at least, maybe you can," Leo said as he looked at Cole.

"What does he mean?" Phoebe asked as Cole walked toward them.

"Demons can sense the Source's aura. It's how he reminds us of his power, his reach. Maybe if I focus on it…" Cole said.

Phoebe frowned. "Then he'll know you're doing it. And he'll find you."

"Not if I was careful. It's your only chance at saving your sister," Cole said as he went back to the window.

"Okay. So we need something to enchant." Piper said.

"Right, um…" Phoebe said as they all looked around. "Oh!" She went over to a shelf and picked up a pair of pink kiddy sunglasses. "How about these?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, Phoebe."

"What? They're perfect," Phoebe said.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh great," she said as she and Phoebe held either side of the sunglasses.

"_Magic forces far and wide, Enchant these so those can't hide, Allow this witch to use therein, So she can reveal the evil within._" Phoebe and Piper chanted as the glasses lenses glowed.

"Probably should test them," Buffy said. "Don't want to be faced with the Source and not know who he is."

Phoebe put the glasses on and giggled as she looked at Leo.

"Well?" Leo asked.

"Nothing. You look the same," Phoebe said.

"How 'bout me?" Cole asked as Phoebe looked at him and screamed. "What?"

With the glasses Phoebe saw Belthazor instead of Cole.

"What do I look like?" Cole asked.

"You look like hell," Phoebe said as she took off the glasses. "Enchanting." Cole smiled as she looked up. "Thanks for the magical assist Grams."

"How do you know it wasn't somebody else?" Piper asked.

"She has a point," Buffy said.

At South Bay Social Services. A man and his wife storm out of an office with Paige following them. She held out her hand. "Heart," she called out as Jake clutched his heart in pain.

"Jake, what is it?" his wife asked as he fell to the ground. "No!"

On the other side of the parking lot Piper pulled her jeep to a stop as she, Prue, Phoebe, Cole, and Leo got out.

"I don't see Paige anywhere," Phoebe said.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Cole?" Piper asked.

Cole nodded. "The Source is here. I can sense him."

"Wait," Prue said. "There she is."

Phoebe put on the sunglasses and saw a black aura around Paige.

"What is she doing?" Piper asked.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know, but she's got a black aura around her."

"The Source?" Leo asked.

"I don't think so," Buffy said. "If I remember what little Willow and Tara told me about about aura's. A black aura means Paige is evil or turning evil."

"If that is the case," Phoebe said. "Then that's not good. Come on."

They hurried towards Paige as a small crowd gathered around the man.

"Jake! Jake! No," the wife said.

"Paige? Paige? It's me, Phoebe. And Piper. And Prue," Phoebe said.

"He's evil. He's hurting his child," Paige said.

"Oh God! Honey," said the wife.

Prue shook her head. "No. You're being tricked. He's not evil."

"No! No Jake!" the wife said.

"All right. You know what? Hi," Piper said as she pushed Paige's hand down. "Leo, take her. Go home. Go, go, go, go."

Buffy grabbed Leo as he orbed out with Paige.

When Piper and Phoebe arrive back at the manor they find Paige using her powers against and Leo.

"We're having a hard time convincing her that she is not evil!" Leo said. "Buffy has barely been managing to use her power to deflect what Paige throws at us with hers.

"Hey at least I'm getting practice," Prue said

"Lamp," Paige called out as a lamp orbed out and back in as it is telekinetically thrown at them.

"Bright side-at least she to is getting the hang of her new power," Phoebe said.

"That was Mom's crystal!" Piper said as she tackled Paige to the ground.

"Okay," Phoebe said as she helped Piper to hold Paige down. "Relax. Relax." Piper got up as she switched places with Leo. "All right. Now what?"

"We just better hope there's some Wiccan exorcism in the Book of Shadows cause… yeah," Piper said as she headed for the stairs.

"Piper," Buffy said. "An exorcism is not gonna …" Just then the lights began to flicker on and off as a man they recognized as Shane appeared by the corner of the stairs. "Piper, watch out."

Buffy's warning was a second too late as Shane's eyes turned jet black, just like Willow's did, and he telekinetically threw Piper through the stairs banister.

"Piper!" Leo and Phoebe shouted.

Buffy growled a low guttural growl as Shane threw an energy ball at her moments before the entire room froze.

"Cease!" said a man who appeared.

"Power," Shane said. "You have already meddled enough."

"You strive to end what we have worked to prevent. The Slayer's death here and now would result in her resurrection as Buffy Summers. And her resurrection would shift the balance of power irrevocably to good with the defeat of the First Evil."

Shane frowned as he looked towards Buffy. "If that is true. You may have given the Charmed Ones the means to do that here as well."

"No more than they had before," the Power said. "We have foreseen both eventualities. In this one the Slayer, while she may change the instances that lead to the outcome. The outcome will remain the same. But as Buffy Summers her future lies with her resurrection. If she is not resurrected then the balance is maintained. If she is resurrected, it is irrevocably shifted."

Shane growled. "You forget who I am. What do I care about your precious balance? Begone!"

"Heed my warning," the Power said and then he disappeared as time resumed.

As the energy ball hit Prue, she went flying backward into the grandfather clock.

Piper raised her hands, and used her power to blow Shane up. Leo leaned over Prue and healed her as Paige stood up just as Shane reassembled.

Phoebe grabbed the glasses and put them on, instantly seeing Shane for what he was, the Source. "Oh, Piper! That's the… that's the…" she said as she took off the glasses and went to hand them to Piper. "Loo…loo… loo… look!"

Piper pushed her hand away. "I know who that is. Leo?"

"She's fine," Leo said as he helped Prue up.

"Your powers are strong, but will they be enough without the Power of Three," Shane said. He smirked, despite the Powers warning. He had to end the Power of Three and that meant killing Prue as well as turning Paige.

"Shane, what's going on?" Paige asked.

"It's okay. I'm here now," Shane said.

Paige frowned. "Stay away from me."

"She still has free will. You can't force her to choose," Leo said. "Either of them."

"Oh, but she's already chosen, haven't you?" Shane asked Paige. "Come with me. You'll be safe forever. I promise." He smiled as he thought. 'And you will kill the Slayer as your first evil act.'

Piper shook her head. "Don't listen to him. He's lying."

"They only want you for your power. You don't have to share it. It's yours," Shane said as he morphed into Paige's boss. "You've already seen what you can do with it. You do what nobody else can do." He morphed into the man's wife that Paige had almost killed. "You nearly saved my son from his father. From all the pain and suffering he's put him through." He morphed into a little boy. "Please help me. Don't let him hurt me anymore. You're my only hope." He reached out and Paige took his hand.

"No!" Buffy said as the boy raised his hand, suspending her in mid-air and shocking her with electricity. "Help me!"

Paige pushed the boy down, causing Buffy to fall to the floor. Phoebe, Piper, Leo, and Paige go over to her to help her up as the clock chimed in the background.

"Buffy?" Piper said. "Okay. Come on. Come on." The boy morphed back into Shane just at the moment and stood up. "I guess blood's a little thicker than evil. You won't get or kill either of them now.

Shane looked at the clock and then fell to the ground as the Source left his body.

"I've broken the Charmed circle before," the Source said. "I'll do it again. The Slayer will not help you, the Powers be damned. Besides, it wasn't a complete loss. Thanks to Belthazor."

"What did you do to him?" Phoebe asked.

"Oh my God."

The Source, Buffy, Leo, Paige, Phoebe and Piper turn to see Cortez standing near the front door with a video camera, looking for all the world amazed at what he sees.

"Inspector, would you get out of here?!" Piper said as Cortez reached for his gun.

The Source fired an energy ball at Cortez, knocking him on the coat rack and imbedding him on a coat hook as he screamed. Piper gasped as Cortez fell to the floor. While everyone was distracted, the Source disappeared. They race to Cortez as Leo knelt down beside him.

"Looks like evil wins again, huh?" Cortez asked.

"Not if I can help it," Leo said as he healed Cortez.

"How'd you do that?" Paige asked as Leo helped a shocked Cortez up.

Leo smiled. "That's what Whitelighters do. We heal good people."

"We have to go find Cole," Phoebe said as they all left.

Near South Bay Social Services Cole lay on the ground, nearly dead.

"Cole!" Phoebe shouted as Leo orbed them in. She spotted Cole and ran over to him, kneeling beside him. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." She put his head in his lap as Piper froze him.

"Heal him," Piper said.

Leo shook his head. "You know that it's against the rules."

"Leo, screw the rules. The Elders owe you all just as the Powers owed me and my friends," Buffy said.

Leo sighed. "Even if I could, I could only heal his human half and that … wouldn't be enough power to save him," he said as he knelt down beside Cole.

"Aren't I half Whitelighter? I mean, couldn't I use my half to offset his half?" Paige asked.

"It's worth a try," Buffy said.

Leo nodded in agreement. "Take my hand," he said as Paige knelt down beside him. "Hold your other hand over his wound."

Buffy smiled as she watched Paige and Leo heal Cole, who unfroze and gasped for air.

Phoebe hugged Cole, happy that he was alive.

"That was good, right?" Paige asked as Piper and Buffy helped her up.

Piper nodded. "That was very good. Let's just hope it wasn't all for nothing."

Later that night at P3; Buffy, Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Cole sat at a booth as a waitress brought Cole, Leo and Buffy their drinks.

"Oh good, thank you," Cole said.

Leo nodded. "Thanks, too."

"Ditto," Buffy said as the waitress left.

"Feels good be here again," Leo said.

"Feels good to be anywhere again," Cole said as he chuckled.

"I will drink to that," Phoebe said as she and Cole clinked their glasses. "Don't ever scare me like that again. "

"Promise," Cole said as Phoebe smiled.

"You okay?" Leo asked Piper.

"I'm not sure," Piper said.

"Prue?" Buffy asked.

Piper nodded. "Yeah."

"I know how you feel," Buffy said. "My mom died a couple months before the events that brought me and Dawn to you all. We barely had time to grieve, and in some ways I don't think we did. I didn't know how I was going to make it from one day to the next. Mom took care of everything. And then suddenly there I was forced to take care of Dawn, because mom was gone. And I just …"

Piper nodded in understanding. It had been the way she had felt since Prue had died. She missed her sister so much. "I know. And that's just not right. That you didn't really get to grieve for your mother or us for Prue."

"I think we'll have the rest of our lives for that," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded as she looked at Phoebe. "I'm still not sure about continuing on with this destiny thing. I need some time to think about it. I hope you're okay with that."

"Absolutely," Phoebe said.

"I'm okay with it also," Buffy said. "When I was prepared to jump so Dawn wouldn't have to. I was prepared for it all to finally be over. I would be at peace. That my friends and Dawn would be okay. And I was okay with that. Being thrust back into this, I'm not sure I'm ready either."

Piper looked to Prue and nodded. She then looked at Leo. "And I hope you're okay with it too."

"They may not be, but I am," Leo said as he took Piper's hand.

"So does this mean I get free drinks now?" Paige asked as she walked up to them, causing Phoebe to chuckle a little. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. It's not that I really drink or… Okay. I'm just gonna go." She turned to leave as Leo stood and stopped her.

"No, Paige. You belong here, remember?" Leo said.

"You sure? I don't want to intrude," Paige said.

"Mmm. Come on. Come sit right here," Phoebe said as Cole stood and moved next to Leo.

"Okay, so, uh, maybe Leo and I should go uh… pretend like we got something better to do," Cole said as Paige sat down next to Phoebe..

Buffy nodded. "Good idea."

Yeah," Cole said as he and Leo left.

"I won't stay long. I just wanted to, uh, come by and thank you," Paige said.

"For what?" Phoebe asked.

"For what?" Paige said. "You mean, beside for saving my life." She chuckled. "I feel like I should bake you a cake or something."

"Do you cook?" Piper asked.

Paige shook her head. "No, no. Not really."

"Then you're in good company," Buffy said. "Neither do I."

"So how's Shane?" Phoebe asked.

"He's okay, I guess, except I'm not too sure he wants to see me anymore," Paige said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Phoebe said.

Paige shook her head. "No. Can't say I blame him. You know? He doesn't know exactly what happened to him, but he knows its something bad and he knows it's somehow connected to me."

"Yeah, well, you're not truly one of us until you've dated a demon, so, welcome to the club," Piper said as Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Can I ask you a question?" Paige asked Buffy.

"Shoot," Buffy said.

"Are you really pregnant?" Paige said.

Buffy smiled. "It's a long complicated, story. But the short of it is, yes."

"So that's what really brought you to …"

"Yes," Prue said.

"Wow," Paige said. "You know at one time I had thought you guys were my sisters. But I dismissed the idea when I found out your mom died a long time ago. I was almost sure she couldn't be mine."

Piper and Phoebe looked at each other and then nodded in agreement at the unspoken thought.

"Come on. There's something we need to show you," Piper said.

"Show me what?" Paige asked.

Phoebe smiled. "What good magic can do."

'And to get the answer you have been seeking from the horses, mouth,' Phoebe thought.

Later at the Manor Phoebe lit the last two candles in a circle and then joined Piper by the Book of Shadows as both Buffy and Paige watched.

"_Here these words. Hear my cry spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide._" Phoebe and Piper chanted as Patty appeared.

"There's someone here we thought you should meet," Phoebe said as Patty looked at Paige.

"Paige," Patty said.

"Mom?" Paige asked as patty stepped outside the circle and became corporeal. She hugged Paige, who smiled.

"Welcome home," Patty said as she hugged Paige again.

Prue smiled as she watched Patty and Paige. And then she heard it, her name being called out. She looked around the room and saw no one was watching her. And then she heard the voice again, and it sounded like Dawn's.

~Buffy.~

* * *

><p>Author's Note: There is a Challenge over on TTH where Buffy is pregnant with Dawn and Dawn can telepathically talk to Buffy and make demands and such like. I want such and such weird concoction. It's where I originally got the idea of Buffy being pregnant with Dawn and where the last part of this chapter came from.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Hell Hath No Fury

**Chapter 4: Hell Hath No Fury**

Buffy smiled as she drove Piper's car. She had finally gotten Prue's memories of driving and was enjoying it. As a present for the memories Phoebe had talked Piper into giving her, Prue's car.

"Okay, turn left up here. And can you step on the gas a little?" Piper said from next to Buffy as the car screeched around the corner.

"Off the gas! Off the gas!" Phoebe said as she sat next to Cole in the back seat.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Does somebody else want to drive here?"

"Phoebe, the demon is not waiting around for us to come and vanquish him," Piper said.

Phoebe sighed. "We don't even know if we have enough power to vanquish him. Scrying for random evil tells us nothing."

"It tells us where the demons are and since we vanquished two already this week, I say it's working pretty well," Piper said.

"Yeah, thanks to Cole for saving our butts," Phoebe said. "You have to remember Buffy is still new to this and we haven't even started teaching Paige."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Piper asked. "Try and get both Buffy and Paige caught up as they pick us off? If we weren't going after them, they'd be coming after us."

"They're coming after you anyway, Piper. The Source is coming after you," Cole said.

Buffy nodded. "They do have a point, Piper. Now not to change the topic or anything, but do we have any kind of plan here or …?"

"The plan is to vanquish the demon," Piper said.

"Great," Cole said. "Any chance you've mastered your powers or are you still freezing and exploding at random?"

Phoebe hit Cole lightly on the arm.

"Random, but you know what they say, there's nothing like field practice. Turn here!" Piper said as Buffy screeched around another corner and drove down an alley. "Stop!"

Prue slammed on the brakes as they spotted a bald demon strangling a man. They quickly got out of the car.

"Hey! Big scary demon!" Piper shouted as the demon turned around.

The man seeing his chanced escaped from the demon's grip and ran away just as Piper used her and the demon began to bloat.

"He's gonna blow!" Cole shouted as he, Phoebe and Prue dove back into the car and shut the doors.

The demon exploded as green goo covered the front of the car.

Buffy turned on the windshield wipers to clean off the mess as Piper got back into the car.

Piper grinned. "Next!"

Buffy looked over her shoulder at Phoebe and Cole and then at Piper.

Later back at the manor Piper crossed out the demon she had just vanquished in the Book of Shadows.

"Oh, I know that you're happy that we got him Piper, but is it entirely necessary to disfigure the book?" Phoebe said.

Piper smiled. "Hmm, this one could incinerate human flesh with his eyes. That must sting."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You think that's funny? You could have gotten yourself killed. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, Buffy, I understand killed very well," Prue said.

"Then why would you want to keep risking your life, or Buffy's, or Phoebe's, or even mine? There's a legion of Bounty Hunters on my ass. I'm supposed to be laying low but instead, I'm out protecting you guys," Cole said.

"You know what, Cole? Next time, you can stay home," Piper said.

"If you insist on taking these suicide missions, you force me to be there because …" Cole said as the doorbell rang, "… there's no way in hell I'm about to let Phoebe lose another sister."

"Why don't you go see who's at the door for us, okay?" Phoebe suggested to Cole and Prue.

"Sure. If it's the Source, we'll just ask him to come back later," Cole said. He looked to Phoebe. "We need to talk." He turned and left the attic with Buffy.

Phoebe sighed. "Piper, Cole and Buffy are right. We have a system for fighting demons and it's worked pretty well for the last three years."

"I think, uh, Prue being killed counts as a pretty big glitch in the system," Piper said.

Phoebe nodded. "I know that you're angry. I am angry too."

"Then w-why are you fighting me on this? What-what's the problem with getting a little proactive?" Piper asked.

"Because we're not ready to get proactive. That's what's wrong with it. We're barely ready for anything right now. I mean, just dealing with our everyday normal lives is hard enough," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "That is precisely the point. The faster we get rid of these demons, the faster we can get back to our everyday normal lives or at least what is left of them."

Just then the attic door opened as Buffy followed by Paige walked in.

"Here they are," Prue said.

"I uh… I'm sorry to just drop by without calling," Paige said.

"Uh, it's okay. Don't worry about it," Phoebe said.

Paige sighed. "I don't know exactly why I'm here. I'm just kind of having a hard time being surrounded by people and …"

Buffy nodded in understanding. "And not being able to tell them that you can move things with your mind? Believe me I can relate."

"It does not exactly roll off the tongue," Paige said as Piper picked up a map and a crystal.

"Yeah, well being a witch is tough on friendships. That's why the whole sister thing comes in so handy," Phoebe said as she looked to Piper. "What are you doing?"

"Um, it's a little chatty up here, so I'm going to go scry for evil in my room," Piper said.

"Scry?" Paige asked as Piper headed for the door.

"Yeah, uh, Phoebe will explain. I'll see you later," Piper said as she left the attic.

"It's kind of like a, um, supernatural lojack," Phoebe said.

"I still think you guys should use locator spells," Buffy said. "Willow rarely scryed. She said scrying was just too unreliable. That locator spells were better."

Paige looked at Prue confused for a second. They still had yet to tell Paige that Prue was dead and that Buffy was in her body. "Well, why don't you use that big book? I mean, it is a book of spells, right?" she asked as she walked over to the Book.

"Oh, it's a lot more than that. It's kind of hard to explain," Phoebe said.

Paige nodded. "It looks so old."

"Yeah. It has survived a lot. Fortunately, it protects itself from evil," Phoebe said.

"It protects itself. How?" Buffy asked.

"Magic," Phoebe said.

"May I?" Paige asked.

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah. I mean technically, it's yours too. I would walk you through it right now, but I have to go talk to Cole."

"Yeah he wanted to see us both downstairs," Buffy said.

Phoebe looked at Buffy and then nodded in understanding. Since Piper was putting her life in jeopardy also, she should be part of any discussions about Piper.

"Well, maybe I can just take it back to my office," Piper said.

Phoebe shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no, no. It doesn't leave the house. But just feel free to thumb through it and then I'll be back in a few minutes," she said as she and Prue left the attic and walked downstairs. They discuss what was going on and what to do about it, finally deciding to call Leo.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Leo asked as he orbed in.

"You've got to talk to your wife," Cole said.

"Okay, Cole, remember what I said about being gentle?" Phoebe asked.

Leo frowned. "What about my wife?"

Buffy sighed. "She's out of control."

"Buffy!" Phoebe said.

"What?" Leo asked.

Phoebe sighed. "It's just, we're very worried about her."

"What happened?" Leo asked.

"She's very, very angry," Phoebe said.

Leo nodded. "Well, of course she's angry. She's grieving."

"Right, and if she were punching walls, I would happily call a repairman, but …" Phoebe said.

"She is way angrier than I was when my mom died," Buffy interrupted. "The kind of angry that could get me and Dawn killed, before Dawn is even born."

Cole nodded in agreement. "The problem is she prefers to punch demons."

"Well, I'll talk to her," Leo said.

"She has no regard for her life or anyone else's. She's Charles Bronson cubed," Cole said.

Leo sighed. "I said I'd talk to her."

"Guys, guys," Phoebe said. "Who is Charles Bronson?"

"Actor," Buffy said. "Did a lot of action movies." She noted Leo and Cole's looks that told her they had not expected her to know who Charles Bronson was. "Hey I had male friends before I died."

"Anyways can we please just have a minute alone?" Phoebe said as she looked at Cole.

Cole nodded. "Sure." He turned and left the room.

"Thank you," Phoebe called after Cole as she, Leo and Buffy moved over to the couch and sat down. "Uh, it's not just that she's violent, Leo. She's acting nothing like herself. She's completely dismissive of both Buffy and Paige and I don't know what to do anymore."

"Strange isn't it?" Leo asked. "Now on top of everything else, you have to play the middle sister when you've always been the, uh …"

"Screw up?" Phoebe asked.

Leo and Prue laughed. "The youngest," he said.

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah. I look at Buffy, Paige and Piper and it makes me think back to all those times that Piper had to play mediator between me and Prue."

"Not a lot of fun, huh?" Buffy asked. Even though she had her share of fights with Dawn, she remembered also being the mediator between Dawn and their mom.

Phoebe shook her head. "It's not a job I would have asked for. And I'm not sure it's a job I'm going to be any good at, but I just, I don't have time to really worry about it right now."

"I'll talk to her," Leo said.

"Thanks Leo," Phoebe said as Leo hugged her. "And not to lose this tender moment, but she's already started scrying." Leo orbed out and Phoebe would have fallen head first if not for Prue sitting there in prime position to catch her. "I didn't mean you couldn't use the stairs!"

Phoebe and Buffy then got up and headed for the stairs to check on Paige. "Paige! I'll be right up!" Phoebe called out. They were nearly to the top of the stairs when they bumped into Paige as she was coming down.

"Whoa!" Phoebe said as she giggled. "Where's the fire?"

They turn and walked downstairs.

"Uh, you know, work. Lunch break's over. Gotta go," Paige said.

"Well, we didn't even get to talk," Phoebe said.

Paige nodded. "Uh, yeah, it's alright. Don't worry."

"Will you come by later?" Buffy asked, deciding now was a good time to tell Paige about who she was. Piper and Phoebe after all already knew. It made sense that Paige should know also.

"Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. Bye," Paige said as she waved and headed out the front door.

"Bye," Phoebe and Buffy said and then they looked at each other and then up the stairs.

"That was weird," Buffy said.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks so," Phoebe said.

"Buffy, Cole, Phoebe! Let's go!" Piper called just then from upstairs.

Buffy once again drove them to an alley that Piper directed her to.

"Piper," Phoebe said, "Buffy, Cole and I do not support you in this. If you insist on doing it, you are going in alone."

"Okay. I'll see you at home," Piper replied.

Buffy sighed and shook her head.

"I told you that wouldn't work," Phoebe said as she looked toward Cole.

"It was worth a shot," Cole said.

"Wait," Buffy said. "Do you smell smoke?"

They stopped walking and took a look around for the source. Piper was the first to notice its coming from inside a warehouse.

"It's in there," Piper said as she pointed to a large wooden door, from which smoke was coming from under.

"What is that? What is it? Stop! Stop!" someone shouted from inside the warehouse as Cole walked over to the door. "Who is th- What are you?"

"Get back, I'll blow it up. Go on," Piper said as Cole backed away from the door. She accidentally froze Cole instead of blowing up the door.

"Uh, Piper…" Phoebe said motioning toward Cole.

Piper sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Crap. Okay," she said as she took off her coat and threw it to the ground. She wiggled her arms to relax herself then tried again, this time blowing up the door and sending Cole flying across the alley.

Cole landed on a car and fell to the ground. "Piper!" Phoebe shouted as she ran over to him.

"What? Oh!" Piper said as a man ran outside, knocking Buffy and Piper over, just three furies followed him.

"Piper, let them go!" Cole shouted as he noticed that Piper was about to use her power again.

Piper missed the furies, blowing up the car in front of them. The furies turn to face Piper.

"Uh-oh," Piper said as she tried to freeze the furies but only managed to freeze Cole again. "They're-they're-th-th-they're immune to my powers."

"Unfortunately, Cole isn't," Phoebe said as a fury attacked Piper.

Another went after Buffy and the last went after Phoebe.

Prue knew she may no longer be the Slayer. But she still remembered all martial arts knowledge that came with being the Slayer. She leapt and kicked out just as Phoebe levitated and kicked out also. They both knocked the furies that were attacking them to the ground.

"Piper, unfreeze him," Phoebe called out.

"What if I blow him up?" Piper asked as Cole unfroze. Just then one of the furies knocked her down and blew smoke into her mouth as she coughed.

"Cole!" Phoebe shouted.

Cole threw an energy ball at the fury standing over Piper and the fury was engulfed in flames as she was vanquished. The other two furies disappear as Piper continued to cough.

Later back at the Manor. "I'm gonna take out those chain smokin' bitches if it's the last thing I do," Piper said as she, Buffy, Cole and Phoebe walked in the front door.

"It might be the last thing you do," Buffy said.

"That's very supportive, Buffy," Piper said. "Who's side are you on?"

"At the moment," Buffy said. "I'm on Phoebe's side."

Piper coughed as they headed into the kitchen. "Well, the last time I checked, Phoebe was still my sister. Which technically puts her on my side. Why are we arguing?"

"We're not arguing, we're discussing, Piper," Phoebe said. "You are arguing. And look, you're already hurt."

"I'm fine," Piper said as she took a water bottle out of the fridge and sipped from it.

"You can't stop coughing," Buffy said.

"And your control of your powers seems to be getting worse, not better," Cole added as they walked out of the kitchen.

"Oh, well, our powers are tied to our emotions, so it would make sense that they would be a little off right now," Phoebe said with a glance at Buffy.

Buffy nodded in agreement. "She's right. Their still grieving."

"All the more reason to lay low. These demons are dangerous," Cole said.

"All the more reason to vanquish them, okay?" Piper said as they stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "That is what we do - eliminate evil."

"Regardless of the consequence, you sound like Prue," Cole said.

Piper sighed. "Okay, Cole. I'm going to vanquish the cancer girls with or without your help. So either tell me what you know or get out of the way."

Cole looked at Phoebe, as she shrugged her shoulders. He then looked at Buffy.

"Might as well," Buffy said. "Being forewarned is …"

Cole nodded. "They're called furies."

"Like from mythology?" Piper asked.

"The dog-faced women from hell?" Phoebe asked.

Cole shook his head. "They're modern knockoffs. Their MO is the same though."

Buffy nodded. "They punish evil doers."

"Exactly," Cole said.

"Wait. Wouldn't that make them good?" Phoebe asked.

Cole shook his head. "Well, these furies are no temptress. They'll go after a shoplifter as soon as a murderer and they take great pleasure in the kill."

"Great," Piper said. "Then we'll take great pleasure in the vanquish." She turned and headed up the stairs.

"What did you not tell her?" Buffy asked knowing full well there was more to this story than what he had mentioned.

Cole sighed.

"So they go after evil doers. Have they attacked you before?" Phoebe said.

Cole nodded. "When they focus their thoughts on you, they force you to hear the cries of all your former victims."

Phoebe touched Cole's face comfortingly. "You're not the demon who did those things anymore."

"I may not have known you that long, Cole," Buffy said. "But even I can see you're a good guy now. And coming from me that is saying a lot. If I thought you might hurt Phoebe or Piper, I would slay you."

"I know," Cole said as they heard Piper scream from upstairs.

They rush upstairs to the attic where they find Piper standing in front of the empty Book of Shadows stand, her mouth open in shock. "Evil got the Book of Shadows. How did evil get the Book of Shadows?"

"Oh no," Phoebe said.

"You don't think?" Buffy asked.

"She must have," Phoebe said as she turned to look Piper in the face. "Uh, Piper, promise me you're not going to overreact."

"Is that even possible?" Piper asked.

"Buffy and I think that, uh, maybe… well, it-it might-might be feasible that uh, Paige borrowed the book," Phoebe said.

"Wait, why-why would you two think that?" Piper asked.

"See? Now this is what I meant about overreacting. It's just that…" Phoebe said.

"You two let Paige take the Book of Shadows out of the Manor?" Cole asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, we did not let her. She left pretty quick and it looks like she might have…" She motioned toward the open window.

"Out of the window?" Piper asked.

"Piper, I don't…" Phoebe started.

"Phoebe, why would you even leave her alone with it?" Piper asked. "I don't even leave Buffy alone with it."

Phoebe sighed. "Well, because she's our sister. Just as Buffy is."

Piper laughed. "Not for long, Paige isn't!" She turned and stormed out of the attic as Phoebe turned to follow.

Phoebe then noticed that Cole and Buffy both have sat down on the couch.

"Are you two coming?" Phoebe asked.

"To vanquish your sister?" Cole asked. "I think both of us will sit this one out. Right, Buffy?"

"Right, Cole," Buffy said.

Phoebe turned and ran out of the attic after Piper.

"While were sitting here, can I ask your opinion on something?" Buffy asked.

"Sure," Cole said.

"Do you think I should tell my friends in Sunnydale, that I'm alive?"

Cole sighed. "Only you can answer that question. But I will tell you something. If I were in your place, separated from Phoebe. I would try and get her word, I may not succeed but that isn't the point. The point is I would try."

Prue nodded and walked down the stairs. She dialed the number she knew by heart.

"Magic Box, your one stop …"

"Hello, Giles," Buffy said. "It's Buffy."

"Who?" Giles asked not recognizing Buffy's voice.

"Your former Slayer," Buffy said. "When Dawn and I fell off that platform the Powers intervened. They placed me into another body, because Willow was going to try and resurrect me."

"And why would they do that?" Giles asked. "Assuming of course you really are Buffy."

"So I could not swing the balance of power from neutral to good, irrevocably," Buffy said. "They said if I had been resurrected that was what would happen and since their about balance. They couldn't let one of the champions do that."

"Let me ask you something," Giles said. "Something that most folks other than myself and Buffy's friends know. What is her greatest fear."

"That I will become a vampire," Buffy said. She had told no one about her fear of being turned. The only reason Giles, Willow and Xander knew was because of Billy and his nightmares, while he had been in a coma. "And for the record I never told you. You found out when Billy was in a coma. When he brought the nightmare world to life."

"You're correct," Giles said. "It is good to hear your voice, Buffy. How is Dawn, is she with you?"

"In a manner of speaking," Prue said. "The Powers gave her a gift. I'm pregnant."

"You're … Dawn is inside you?" Giles asked.

"And in a few months she will be born, for real this time," Buffy said. "That is the gift the Powers gave her. She will have her memories of her old life, just like I do. But she will grow up this time."

"That," Giles said. "I can't even put it into words."

"I know," Prue said.

"Where are you?" Giles asked.

"San Francisco," Buffy said. "1329 Prescott Street." Suddenly she heard something land on the couch in the next room. "Giles, I have to go."

"Call again, soon," Giles said as Buffy hung up and walked into the living room.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked as she noticed a guy, Donnie, on the couch and Leo and Piper and standing in front of him.

"Easy, Piper," Leo said.

"What, are you protecting him now?" Piper asked.

"Wh-wh-what the hell is going on? And what's with the chicks? They've gone crazy," Donnie said.

"This chick just saved your ass you snivelling ingrate," Piper said as Donnie stood up.

"Do you see what I mean?" Donnie asked.

"Leo?" Buffy said.

"Paige cast a personal gain spell on him," Leo said.

"Who said you could get up?" Piper said as she pushed Donnie over the back of the couch.

"What's the matter with you?" Leo asked. "Okay, honey look, I don't know what's going on, but we really need to talk."

"Leo, you know what? I'm sick of talking," Piper said as she tried to blow Leo up.

Leo orbed out and back in as Piper went over to Donnie. "Now we really need to talk. Piper, you do not use your powers on a mortal," he said as he stood behind her. "Do you hear me?"

Buffy frowned as she looked at Piper. She didn't have her spidey-sense anymore. But even she could tell that Piper was no longer, well, Piper.

"Back away slowly, Leo, Buffy."

"What?" Leo asked as he and Buffy saw Cole standing in the doorway.

"She's becoming a fury," Cole said as Piper grew large black fingernails. "There's no reasoning with her now."

Leo moved to stand in front of Piper as Prue moved beside Cole. "Piper, you're a good witch. Do you hear me? Fight this."

Piper touched Leo's face and then pushed him over the couch.

"Oh God! Help!" Donnie shouted.

"Cole," Buffy said. "Can you moderate the intensity of your energy ball?"

"Yes," Cole said as he prepared an energy ball.

Piper scratched Donnie and blew smoke at him.

Cole threw the energy ball at Piper which pushed her back just as Phoebe and Paige walked in.

"Cole!" Phoebe said.

"I told him to," Buffy said.

"That wasn't very nice," Piper said as she disappeared.

Moments later Phoebe and Prue looked through the Book of Shadows.

"Cole hit her with an energy ball," Leo said as he healed Donnie, was asleep on the couch.

Buffy sighed. "Leo, it was a low voltage."

"Would you prefer he'd let her kill an innocent?" Phoebe added.

"I'd prefer that he wouldn't use his demonic powers on my wife," Leo said. "I can't believe that you two let him go look for her."

Paige sighed. "Oh, this all my fault. I shouldn't have stolen the Book of Shadows."

Leo frowned as he looked over at Paige. "You stole the Book of Shadows?"

"Leo, Leo. Concentrate please," Phoebe said. "I just hope he finds her fast because if this is anything like the time I turned into a Banshee, she's gonna be hungry for a kill."

"I'm sorry. A Banshee?" Paige asked as Leo stood up.

Buffy nodded. "Demonic screamer, kinda trampy, feeds on pain."

Phoebe looked to Buffy. "How …"

"I may not have been big on research," Prue said, "when I was the Slayer. But I did actually know a thing or two about demons."

"I think I need to sit down," Paige said as she sat next to Donnie, who woke up.

Donnie looked at Paige and stared straight at her breasts, which were huge due to her use of the personal gain spell. "Whoa."

Paige punched Donnie in the face, knocking him out.

"Paige!" Leo said as Paige stood up.

"Well you told her she couldn't use magic to punish him," Buffy said coming to Paige's defense. "Besides that's what I would have done. From what Paige has said he deserved it."

Phoebe sighed. "Okay, Leo, you orb Donnie back to his office, heal him there, then make sure he doesn't nark us out for being witches."

"How?" Leo asked.

"I don't know. Be creative," Phoebe said.

"What about Piper?"

"You have to do your job," Phoebe said. "And let us do ours. We'll get your wife back. I promise."

Leo touched Donnie and they orb out.

"Um, I hate to ask, but how are we going to get his wife back?" Paige asked. "I mean, she's kind of a … full on demon."

Phoebe shook her head. "No. She's not full on. She doesn't have the talons yet. That probably comes with the first kill. Besides, if we were able to save her when she turned into a Wendigo …"

"A Wendi-what?" Buffy asked.

"Um, a Wendigo. It's kind of like a werewolf, only meaner," Phoebe said as she found the Instant Karma Spell in the Book of Shadows. "Is this the spell that you used, Paige?"

Paige nodded as she sat back down beside Phoebe. "Uh-huh," she said as Phoebe picked up a notepad and pen. "Is there some sort of spell I could do, you know, in advance so I could, uh, not become maybe a Banshee or …"

"What word did you sub demon with?" Phoebe interrupted.

"Dirtbag."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "That sums him right up."

Phoebe glared at Buffy and then turned back to the Book. "Dirtbag," she said as she wrote something down on the pad and scrunched up the paper. "Okay." She and Paige stood up and she took Paige's hand in hers as she burned the tip of the paper with a lit candle. "_Guided spirits, hear our plea, annul this magic, let it be._"

"Please let it be," Paige said as her breasts return to their normal size. She looked down and groaned. "Do you think it worked a little too well?"

Phoebe moved over to the dining room table and then began scrying for Piper. After an hour she gave up. "Damn it."

"Why isn't it working?" Paige asked.

"Because Piper isn't a witch anymore," Phoebe said.

"Can't you just scry for evil then?" Paige asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "Do you have any idea how much evil is running around San Francisco?"

"Or California," Prue said. "Which gives me an idea." She walked into the foyer and picked up the phone and dialed.

"Magic Box, your one stop …"

"Giles," Prue said. "It's Buffy. Is Willow there?"

"Yes," Giles said. "One second."

"Buffy!" Willow screamed. "I'm so happy to hear you're alive. What's going on?"

"Will," Prue said. "I need a locator spell. And it seems only you know how to cast them."

"I could do that, I so could do that. What do you need locating."

"A witch who is turning into a fury," Prue said as Cole shimmered in behind her.

"Cole. Thank God," Phoebe said.

"Where would she be?" Willow asked.

"In San Francisco," Prue said.

"Don't thank me yet," Cole said.

"That maybe a problem," Willow said. "You know distance wise. I'll try my best. Give me your number and I'll call you when I have something."

"You didn't find her?" Paige asked.

Prue rattled off the phone number as she hung up. She then turned to face Cole, Phoebe and Paige.

Cole shook his head. "I didn't get a chance to look. Every time I used my sensing powers, a bounty hunter sensed me. I fought off three of them. I'm sorry."

"No, it's—it's okay. I mean, somehow everything's gonna be okay. I—I don't have even a little idea of how everything's gonna be okay," Phoebe said.

"Phoebe, Buffy ..." Paige said.

"You know why?" Phoebe said. "Because nothing is okay."

Buffy put her fingers to her lips and whistled getting Phoebe's attention. "Paige has something, I think."

"Didn't you say you found me because Piper cast a spell to find a lost witch?" Paige asked as Phoebe looked at her.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, but I also said that Piper's not a witch anymore."

"Yes, but if I can substitute the word _dirtbag_ for _demon_, why can't we substitute the word _sister_ for _witch_?" Paige asked.

"Will that work?" Prue and Cole asked at almost the same time.

Phoebe shook her head. "Well, n—no. Not if she's already looking for a kill. The call won't be strong enough."

"Why not?" Buffy asked. "We have the Power of Three in the three of us."

"Because the Power of Three may not be strong enough against the pull of evil. When I was possessed by the Woogie, the blood lust was so strong …" Phoebe said.

"Woogie?" Cole asked.

"Don't ask," Paige said.

"The point is … I don't think she'll answer the call," Phoebe said.

Buffy smiled. "Then we'll add bait," she said as she glanced at Cole. "Assuming you're up for it that is."

Before Cole could answer Phoebe was already against the plan. "No. No. Uh, no. Are you kidding me? No," she said.

"The furies go after evil doers, right?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy, we are not using the love of my life as bait," Phoebe said.

Cole smiled. "Oh, yes we are. It's perfect," he said as he moved next to Buffy.

"Cole, you have been a demon for over a century. That is a lot of victims. The pain of their cries alone can kill you," Phoebe said.

Cole nodded. "Yes, but as you said, I'm not the demon that did those things anymore. And if facing my crimes helps save your sister …"

"Cole, I …" Phoebe started.

"Phoebe," Cole said as he sat next to Phoebe. "I would do almost anything for you, you know that. But I will not be a coward for you. Please don't ask me to be."

Phoebe sighed as she touched Cole's face. "We'll need some of your blood."

Cole nodded. "Right."

"Knife," Paige said as a knife orbed from the table and into Paige's hand. She held it out in front of Cole.

Several minutes later Buffy, Phoebe and Paige stood around the table as Phoebe held the knife with Cole's blood over a lit candle. "_Power of the sisters rise, course unseen across the skies, come to us who call you near_. _Come to us and settle here. Blood to blood, I summon thee, blood to blood, return to me,_" they chanted.

Phoebe looked to Cole who paced back and forth. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm good at a lot of things. Waiting is not one of them," Cole said as Paige made a noise and threw her arms down.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.

"I'm trying to do that orb thingy. I can't seem to get the hang of it though," Paige said as Cole yelled in her face causing her to orb out and back in. "What happened?"

"You orbed," Phoebe and Prue said.

"I did?" Paige asked excited.

Cole nodded. "It's a fear response."

"So until you learn how to control it, you just have to …" Phoebe said.

"Get scared?" Paige asked.

Buffy nodded. "Pretty much. Me I have to get angry to use mine."

Paige nodded. "Alright. Well, that shouldn't be too difficult."

"Good," Phoebe said. "Then we will orb, we will levitate, we will telekinetically juggle knives if we have to, just to keep the furies distracted from Cole."

Paige nodded. "Okay, but what I don't get is how we un-demon Piper when she gets here."

"Well, we have to close the portal of unexpressed fury," Phoebe said.

"Unexpressed?" Buffy said. "I think she's been raging for days."

Phoebe nodded. "That's 'cause there's something she's not saying."

"Which is?" Paige asked.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know, but I think I have an idea."

"Can I ask you guys a question," Paige said. "One that I've been dying to ask since I met you."

"Sure," Phoebe said.

Paige turned and looked at Buffy. "Why does everyone call you Buffy?"

Buffy sighed. "It's a long story."

"The short of it," Phoebe said, "is Prue died. Both Buffy and her sister died at about the same time as Prue. These higher beings foresaw a future event they wanted to prevent and when Prue went to heaven. They placed Buffy in her body."

"Oh," Paige said. "So who were you before?"

"Buffy Summers," Buffy said. "I was a Slayer. One girl in all the world, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was chosen to fight demons and vampires, but not as a witch though. I was a mortal with enhanced strength along with other abilities."

"Wow," Paige said. "Wait, Phoebe said you and your sister both died."

"Who do you think I'm pregnant with?" Buffy asked.

Paige's eyes went wide. "Wow."

Suddenly Cole yelled out in pain and dropped to his knees as Phoebe knelt beside him. "They're close?" she asked as Paige, scared, orbed out.

"Paige?" Buffy said as Paige orbed back in.

Paige smiled. "I did it again."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Cole said as a fury barged in through the front door.

Phoebe levitated and kicked the fury her, knocking her down.

The fury stood back up and attacked Phoebe as they traded blows. Phoebe then kicked the fury back down as Piper and another fury appeared behind Phoebe near Buffy and Cole.

Phoebe spun around to face Piper and smiled. "Nice decoy, Piper. Two points," she said as she levitated and kicked the fury knocking her to the floor as Prue kicked out at Piper knocking her back. "Cole. Come on. Come on."

The furies surround Buffy, Phoebe and Cole.

"Lamp!" Paige called out as the lamp orbed out and it flew across the room hitting a fury. The fury turn to face her around. "Sorry." The furies walked towards her. "Really sorry."

Cole threw an energy ball at the two furies and killed them. Piper pushed Phoebe and Prue out of the way and scratched his chest.

"Cole is not your problem, Piper, and you know it," Phoebe said.

Piper turned and attacked Phoebe.

"Book!" Paige called out as the Book of Shadows orbed to her. She started flipping through it looking for a way to help Piper. "Please let there be something in here."

Buffy kicked out knocking Piper backwards as Cole got an energy ball ready.

"Cole, don't!" Phoebe shouted as Cole extinguished the energy ball. "You think I abandoned you. You think it's my fault that Prue died. You blame me. You should just admit it."

Piper sent Phoebe and Buffy flying straight into a cabinet, smashing it. She then turned and headed for Paige.

"You don't want to kill me, Piper, you don't even know me," Paige said as Cole helped Buffy and Phoebe up. "It's not about me. It's not about Phoebe, is it?"

"It's about me," Buffy said as she realized what Piper had been raging about. "Or rather who should have been here if not for the Powers placing me in her body? Right? Leo!"

Leo orbed in as Piper tried to scratch Paige, who orbed out and back in behind Piper.

Piper spun around to face Buffy.

"Phoebe's not the sister who abandoned you," Buffy said. "It's Prue." She looked at Leo. "Orb her to Prue."

Leo shook his head as Piper marched toward Buffy. "It's forbidden. She can't see her yet."

"Screw the rules," Buffy said. "She needs closure. And the only closure she is going to get is by directing her anger at the one person she can't."

Leo sighed as he grabbed Piper as she grabbed Prue by the neck and then orbed them out.

"Where'd he take them?" Paige and Cole asked.

Phoebe looked to the heavens. "To what Piper's really angry at."

Somewhere … Leo orbed in with Buffy and Piper. Before them stood Grams, Patty and Prue.

"Leo?" Grams said.

"Buffy's correct. The only way for Piper …" Leo said.

Grams and Patty nodded in understanding.

"Tell her, Piper," Buffy said. "It's alright to hate her." Piper looked around as if she was looking for a means to escape. "You should hate her. When my mother died, I hated her for it. Dawn and I were alone, and I hated her. It is okay to hate Prue."

Prue nodded in agreement.

"How dare you!" Piper screamed as she ran at Prue and banged her hands on her sister's chest. "How dare you leave me? How could you go and die and leave me all alone? Please come back. I need you." Tears began to flow down her cheeks as Prue wrapped her arms around her sister. "Please come back."

As Piper cried she morphed back to normal as Prue continued to hold her. "I know," Prue said. "I will always be with you, Piper. You know that."

"She's right, Piper," Patty said. "Just as when mom and I left you. You found the strength to go on. You knew that no matter what we would always be with you, even if we couldn't be with you physically. We would be with you in your heart."

Buffy nodded. "Tell her."

"You risked your life every day and you never thought about what would happen to me and Phoebe if you were gone," Piper said.

"You're right," Prue said. "I never did. Why do you think Grams and mom have been up here helping me through this? Because I didn't want to leave you and Phoebe either, not that way."

The next morning Piper poured three cups of coffee as Phoebe entered the kitchen and sat on a stool. She handed Phoebe one of the cups.

"Did you sleep?" Phoebe asked.

Piper nodded. "Yeah, actually, better than I have in a while."

"Mmm. It's quiet, isn't it? Early and late. It's just really, really quiet," Phoebe said.

Piper was sure Phoebe didn't mean Buffy but Prue. "Prue was always the first one up, and the last one down. It's strange, the things that you miss. So, how scary was I?"

Phoebe laughed as Piper sat next to her. "Heck, I've seen worse. I've been worse. But uh, but Buffy and Paige…"

"They completely freaked," Piper said.

Phoebe shook her head. "No, uh, they handled it… better than most people would, I think. They saved your life. Buffy more than Paige, but Paige gave her the idea that …"

Piper nodded in understanding, that she was angry at Prue for leaving them. "I know I haven't been the most welcoming. I just … I miss Prue so much. It's hard to imagine opening up to someone else. With everything that happens in our lives, love just feels like an invitation for more pain."

"So maybe, um … maybe you don't start with love. Maybe you just start with thanks," Phoebe suggested.

Piper nodded and grabbed the other cup of coffee and headed upstairs to Buffy's room and knocked.

"Come in."

Piper opened the door and stepped into Buffy's room and looked around. She saw Buffy sitting on the bed. "Hey, I thought you might like a cup of coffee?"

"Thanks," Prue said as she took the cup from Piper.

"I'm going to make some muffins later, you want any?" Piper asked.

"Sure," Buffy said.

Piper smiled. "You know it's just busy work," she said as Buffy nodded. "I'm best in the kitchen. Prue was the one that liked to, uh, chase demons."

"So, how are you?" Buffy asked.

"I've had, uh… bad hours," Piper said as she sat down on the corner of the bed. "And hours that aren't quite so bad. I guess you know how it is."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "When my mom died, there were some days I didn't think I'd survive the sadness. It'll never be okay that she's gone, Piper. But I promise, it will get better."

Piper nodded in agreement.

~Buffy.~

Buffy frowned.

"What?" Piper asked noting the look on Buffy's face.

"Since we met Paige," Buffy said, "last week. I've been hearing what sounds like Dawn's voice. But that's not possible is it?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Dawn is still developing. Even though she will have her memories, which will likely help her to learn things quicker, she shouldn't be able to say anything to you till after she's born," Piper said.

~Buffy, don't ignore me, please. It's going to be eight months as it is till I'm born and all I have is you for company.~

"Boy, if it really is her. She is being a pain," Buffy said.

"Then you just tell my niece," Piper said. "That her aunt loves her."

"Niece?" Buffy asked.

"You're my sister, Buffy," Piper said. "Just as I said last week. Just being in Prue's body adds that distinction. But you've become my sister in other ways also. Ways that matter to me. And that makes Dawn my niece, even if she wasn't biologically."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks, that means a lot."


	5. Chapter 5: Enter the Demon

**Author's Note: **I have gone and edited chapter 1-4 for some spelling and grammatical mistakes. Also to ease the confusion a tad (and there was some, even I was getting confused.) Everything for Buffy is now shown as Buffy instead of Prue. As I said it is to ease the confusion. For example Prue got Prue's car. When I went back and read that I was like what? I understand what I wrote but at the same time it just seemed confusing. So I changed everything regarding Buffy/Prue to just Buffy so as to make it less confusing.

Next this chapter is dealing with the episode where Paige and Phoebe swapped bodies. After the swap the person will be identified as such Mind/Body. For example Paige who will be in Phoebe's body will be Paige/Phoebe until the swap is undone.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Enter the Demon<strong>

Buffy and Paige sat at the kitchen table as Piper quizzed them.

"Okay," Piper said. "After mixing your potions, what's the best method to preserve unused sea slugs for future use? A) Pickle them, B) Sugar them, C) Smoke them, D) Freeze dry them."

Paige smiled as she sucked on a lollipop. "Well, now you see, if I had extra sea slugs, I'd let those little suckers go right on back to the ocean."

Buffy rolled her eyes as one of Prue's memories surfaced. "D) Freeze dry them."

"Correct," Piper said. "Did you study or did you cheat, Buffy?"

"Cheat," Buffy said. "One of Prue's memories told me."

"I was going to guess that," Paige said.

Piper sighed. "Why are you guessing at all?"

"To pass," Paige said.

Piper sighed. "Paige, Buffy, this isn't like trig, you know. It's—It's not like you two are never going to use it again. If you blow a potion, innocent people could die. Did either of you study at all for this test?"

"Well, I started to last night," Paige said. "It's just a friend from work came over and she knew this bouncer at this club and … I'm sorry."

Piper sighed again. "It's okay. I was single … once."

"Well I started to," Buffy said. "But research has never been my forte. Besides as I get Prue's memories I'm going to know everything she did anyways. Which makes studying kind of pointless."

Piper nodded as she looked at Buffy. What Buffy had said was true, Prue did know about being a witch and as Buffy got Prue's memories … Still till then … "I know, Buffy. But till those memories surface you need to know this stuff. Why don't you both study tonight ..."

Paige shook her head. "I can't. I have a guy coming over here and we're going out."

"Here? What's wrong with your place?" Piper asked.

Paige smiled. "Uh, this place is slightly more impressive than mine."

"Uh-huh," Piper said. "Look, Paige, I really, really want to be the cool big sister, but this is ridiculous. You have no priorities."

"She has priorities," Buffy interjected.

"It's alright, Buffy," Paige said as she looked at Piper. "That is not true. I've left work to fight demons. That's why I have to go out tonight. The boss' son is in town for the weekend."

"And you think showing him a good time is gonna improve your career standing?" Piper asked.

Paige nodded. "Well, yeah."

"Okay, listen to me very carefully. There is nothing more important than you two learning your craft right now. We could be attacked at any moment," Piper said.

"Then why are Buffy and I stuck here reading? We should be learning how to body slam sweaty demons like Phoebe," Paige argued.

Piper sighed. "Phoebe's been at this a lot longer than you have, but trust me. Be patient and study hard and one day you will get a big sweaty demon of your own."

"You know," Buffy said. "I've been at this a lot longer than you have. I was called as a Slayer when I was fifteen and died when I was twenty. I got seniority here."

"Yes you do," Piper said as she stood up. "But as the Slayer. As a witch your still new. Which is why you need to learn this."

"Well I might join Phoebe sometime with Cole," Buffy said. "I may not be the Slayer but I do still remember how to fight as one."

Piper sighed and nodded. "Point conceded," she said. "But not at the expense of learning your craft though."

"We'll find a way I can do both," Buffy said as Piper picked up an umbrella and her keys.

"Where are you going?" Paige asked.

"Chinatown," Piper said. "I need to stock up on some of these herbs."

"Ooh, can I go? I can get my nails done," Paige said.

Piper shook her head. "You two need to work on your potions," she said as she got her coat.

"Come on!" Paige said as she stood up.

"Paige, don't make me the wicked witch of the northwest," Piper said. "I-I didn't ask for this big sister gig and frankly it's sucks. But since I'm on a roll, you should get rid of that lollipop habit because it's gonna rot your teeth." She turned and left as Paige stuck the lollipop back in her mouth.

Later after Paige returned from watching Phoebe and Cole spar, she and Buffy are standing in front of a boiling pot.

"Next up, some powered toadstool. Bam!" Paige said as she threw in the powder and clapped. "Let's kick it up one more notch."

"Whoa, what-what are you two doing?" Leo asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Paige sighed. "You know, just preparing for the Source."

"Oh, is he coming over for dinner?" Leo asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, Piper's got us mixing potions. Why, I don't know. Phoebe gets to spar and Paige and I get to cook. Sheesh I told Piper I can't cook."

Leo got a bottle of water out of the fridge. "Well, you know your sister's active powers took a long time to develop. And, uh, Phoebe's been studying martial arts for years."

"And I was the Slayer," Buffy said. "I really would like to get this body into the shape I was in before I died."

"I know, Buffy," Leo said. "But you have to learn your craft also. Being a witch with an active power is not going to be like being the Slayer. You need to learn how to vanquish demons a different way. What you will face are not low level demons and vampires. They are mid and upper level demons."

"Yeah, but we're magic. We should be able to skip over all that crap," Paige said.

Leo sighed. "Well, there are no shortcuts. Even with magic," he said as he noticed that the potion was beginning to boil over. "And, uh, you two might want to check your potion. It's bubbling over."

"Just once," Paige said as Leo left. "I'd like to know what it's like to be Phoebe and be able to kick some serious ass. Bam!" She put the last ingredient and the potion exploded.

Suddenly Paige and Buffy's souls left their bodies and they collapsed.

Buffy/Paige woke up and looked around and then her eyes went wide when she saw her own body sit up and groan.

"Oh, I don't look so good."

"What's going on?" Phoebe/Buffy said as she saw Paige/Phoebe and gasped.

"What the heck is going on?" Buffy/Paige asked.

Paige/Phoebe looked at Buffy/Paige her eyes wide as she realized not only had she and Phoebe switched bodies. So had Buffy. "Don't worry. It's me, Paige. We switched bodies."

"What?" Phoebe/Paige asked. "What did you do?"

"We were mixing a potion," Buffy/Paige said. "And it exploded in our faces."

"It was an accident though," Paige/Phoebe said. "I swear. I just wanted to know what it was like to be you and somehow the potion we were working on just sort of blew up."

"You wanted to be me?" Phoebe/Paige asked. "Are you crazy? Okay. Okay." She then looked at Buffy/Paige. "Wait I'm in Buffy's body. Did you want to be Paige?"

Buffy/Paige shook her head. "No. I was fine in my own skin. Well in Prue's skin. Seeing how my skin's dead. If I was going to switch I would have switched with my old body. I think I was just caught in the backwash of the potion."

Phoebe/Buffy nodded. "Okay, we gotta fix this. What ingredients did you two use?"

Buffy/Paige looked to Paige/Phoebe pointedly. "Paige was mixing the potion. I wasn't really paying attention."

Paige/Phoebe sighed. "I'm not sure. Just please don't tell Piper. She already thinks I'm a screw-up as it is."

"Hello!" Phoebe/Buffy said. "Paige, we are in each other's bodies. I think Piper is the least of our problems." Just then Paige/Phoebe pouted. "Okay, fine. I won't tell her. Now wipe that look off my face."

"Thanks," Paige/Phoebe smiled and then she looked down at the top. "God, this top is tight."

Phoebe/Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but it sure looks great."

"So, ready to get back at it?" Cole asked as he entered the kitchen.

Phoebe/Buffy nodded. "Yeah, just a minute sweetie."

"Not you. Phoebe," Cole said..

"Uh, sure, sugar. Whatever you say. Lets go work up a sweat," Paige/Phoebe said as he began to head downstairs.

"Uh, just a minute," Buffy/Paige said as she got an idea. "Actually, Phoebe has to stay with me and Buffy. She has to help us, uh, with the potion. It blew up in our face."

"Is that true?" Cole asked as Buffy/Paige, Paige/Phoebe and Phoebe/Buffy nodded. "So let me ask you something, Phoebe. Um, why did you ask me to train you? I mean, why are we wasting our time?"

"You're not wasting your time, Cole. Phoebe told me how much she's learning—" Phoebe/Buffy said.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Cole said. "This is between me and Phoebe. If it's more important for you to help out in the kitchen than to train for the Source, then you don't have what it takes to vanquish him. So, please let me know when that changes." He then shimmered out.

"If we don't fix this soon, I am going to perm your hair," Phoebe/Buffy said.

"Perm mine!" Buffy/Paige said. "If anything I think I would rather you dye it. I miss being blonde."

"Alright," Phoebe/Buffy said. "I'll dye it for you the moment we fix this."

In the living room a woman, An-Ling, was talking to Piper and Leo. "Yen-Lo was a powerful disciple, but he used my father's teachings for evil. That's why my father passed him over for master. And because he did, Yen-Lo swore vengeance on him."

"But didn't you say you stabbed Yen-Lo when he first attacked?" Leo asked.

An-Ling nodded. "Yes, but he used his knowledge of the teachings to escape before he died."

"Escape where?" Piper asked.

An-Ling smiled. "To a place where souls pass on their way to reincarnation. It's a mystical region between life and death," she said as Piper looked at Leo for help.

"Limbo," Leo said.

"Yen-Lo somehow figured out a way to hide out there," An-Ling said.

"But if you stabbed him—" Piper started.

"Metaphysical and magical laws are amplified in limbo," Leo said. "As long as he stays there his wound will never advance. He can literally cheat death forever."

An-Ling nodded. "That's why I took the dragon blade. It has the power to trap human souls," she said as Piper picked up the dragon blade. "Now it's the only way to save my father."

"You think he's still alive?" Piper asked.

"Yen-Lo just doesn't want to kill my father," An-Ling said. "He wants to punish him. Holding him in limbo does that. It keeps his soul from being reborn."

"Do you know how to, uh, get to this limbo?" Piper asked as she put the dragon blade down.

An-Ling sighed. "No, I never mastered that skill."

"Well, then we'll have to figure out our own way. Phoebe! Paige! Buffy!" Piper called out.

"I can't let you do that," An-Ling said. "I know you're powerful witches, but I can't put you in danger. Yen-Lo will be coming for me next."

"All the more reason you should be here where it's safe," Piper said as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

An-Ling shook her head. "No place is safe from Yen-Lo. He can use any surface of water as a portal."

"Maybe, but he can only stay in our world for short periods. Otherwise, his wound will ultimately kill him," Leo said as Phoebe/Buffy, Paige/Phoebe and Buffy/Paige walked in.

"You called," Phoebe/Paige said as An-Ling and Piper stood up.

"Um, this is An-Ling," Piper said.

"Hi, I'm Paige," Paige/Phoebe said as everyone looked at her curiously. "I mean, Paige's older sister Phoebe. This is Paige."

"Hi," Buffy/Paige said with a roll of her eyes.

"Howdy. Hi. Buffy here," Phoebe/Buffy said.

"Um, okay," Piper said. "We've got a water loving demon, so Phoebe can you take Paige to the water main. It takes two to turn off that rusty valve. Buffy could call your friend Willow and see if she knows how to get into Limbo."

"Water main. Right," Paige/Phoebe said as she started off in the wrong direction as Buffy/Paige took Paige's hand and pulled her in the right direction. She was glad that Piper and Phoebe had shown her where the fuse box and the water main was. As she and Paige passed Phoebe/Buffy. She slipped her hand into Phoebe/Buffy's pocket pulling out her cellphone and whispered to Phoebe/Buffy. "I'll call while we shut off the water main."

Phoebe/Buffy nodded as Paige/Phoebe and Buffy/Paige left the room.

Once in the basement Buffy/Paige pulled out the cellphone as she motioned toward the water main. "Give me a second and then I'll help you turn it off," she said as she dialed.

_"Hello?"_

"Tara?" Buffy/Paige asked.

_"Yes. Who's this?" _

"It's Buffy," Buffy/Paige said. "Is Willow there? Or maybe you might know."

_"Hold on. Buffy? But she's dead."_

Buffy/Paige sighed. "Let me guess Willow and Giles didn't explain about the whole being put in a new body deal."

_"No they didn't. How did you get put in someone else's body?"_

Buffy/Paige sighed. "The Powers that freaking Be," she said. "It's a long story. I need to know if you or Willow know how to get into Limbo."

_"I don't I'm sorry. When Willow gets back from class I will ask her. Does she know how to get in touch with you?"_

"Yes," Buffy/Paige said.

_"Alright. By the way if you really are Buffy. It's nice to hear your voice all though it sounds different."_

"Thanks, Tara," Buffy/Paige said as she hung up and then proceeded to turn off the water main with Paige/Phoebe. She looked towards Paige/Phoebe. "You know you almost got us busted. Next time just smile and nod when we're together with Phoebe."

"Well that might work with Piper, but what about this demon that's on the loose," Paige/Phoebe said as she sucked on a lollipop.

"You're right," Buffy/Paige said. "We may have to fight. You should practice Phoebe's levitation while I practice your orbing."

"Good idea," Paige/Phoebe said.

"Okay," Buffy/Paige said. "I'll be back. I'm going to check on Phoebe." She turned and headed up the stairs as the doorbell rang. She opened the door and fan a man, Mason, standing there. "Can I help you?"

Mason laughed "Sense of humor. I really like that in a girl. So you ready to go, Paige?"

"Paige. Uh—" Buffy/Paige stammered as Paige/Phoebe came up behind her.

"Mason, hi," Paige/Phoebe said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Do I know you?" Mason asked.

Paige/Phoebe shook her head. "No, no. But I know you. At least I feel like I know you seeing as how Paige can't stop talking about you, Mason the boss's son," she said as she looked at Buffy/Paige. "He's as cute as you said he was."

"Well, uh, nice to see you. Bye," Buffy/Paige said as she began to close the door.

"No, wait!" Paige/Phoebe said. "Aren't you guys going for dinner?"

Mason nodded. "Yeah, is Italian okay?"

Paige/Phoebe shook her head. "Chinese. You must have Chinese. Chinatown Chinese, even better," she said as she looked pointedly at Buffy.

"That's—That's cool," Mason said.

"Okay," Buffy/Paige said as Paige/Phoebe gave her, her coat.

"Okay, so you two kids have fun," Paige/Phoebe said. "And keep my face out of the sun."

Buffy/Paige gave Paige/Phoebe a look before she and Mason left.

At the the Herb Shop in Chinatown. Buffy/Paige looked around trying to find the missing ingredient for the potion.

"Uh, hmm. What is this place?" Mason said as Buffy/Paige sighed.

"I just gotta find some powdered toadstool," Buffy/Paige said as she took a bag out of a basket. "Ah, here it is."

"Okay, I-I gotta warn you. I'm not into the whole herbal scene," Mason said.

"Oh, neither am I," Buffy/Paige said remembering to try and keep in character. She didn't want Mason to get suspicious.

"So what's the toadstool for?" Mason asked.

"It's an aphrodisiac," Buffy/Paige said as she headed over to the counter.

"Really? My Dad was right. He said you were, uh, unique. I believe is the word he used," Mason said.

"Oh, yeah?" Buffy/Paige asked. "What else did he say about me?"

"He said that if he doesn't hurry up and make you a social worker, you'll probably quit and start your own agency," Mason said. "That or end up in jail. He wasn't sure which."

Buffy/Paige nodded. "He's probably right. But I like working there," she said as she paid for the powdered toadstool. Just then thunder clapped outside. "Uh-oh. Yen-Lo."

"Uh, what's that?" Mason asked. "Another aphrodisiac?"

Buffy/Phoebe shook her head. "I gotta go."

At the Manor in Buffy's room; Phoebe/Buffy was practicing telekinesis when suddenly …

~Aunt Phoebe~

Phoebe/Buffy looked around. "Who said that?"

~Mom and Aunt Piper didn't tell you?~

Phoebe/Buffy's eyes went wide. "Dawn?"

~Yes.~

"How is it your able to speak?" Phoebe/Buffy asked. "You're still a developing fetus."

~I don't know to tell the truth. Sometimes I wish I couldn't. It does get lonely sometimes.~

"Doesn't Buffy talk to you?" Phoebe/Buffy wondered.

~I think she's a little wigged out that I am even able to communicate with her.~

"I can see why," Phoebe/Buffy said.

Downstairs Buffy/Paige walked through the front door and put down her bag on the table. She took off her coat and hat, then headed for the living room.

"Cole!" Buffy/Paige said as Cole walked up behind her. "You scared me."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to," Cole said. "With the rain outside and everyone on Yen-Lo alert."

Buffy/Paige nodded. "Yeah, Yen-Lo. That's why I rushed home."

"You're chilled. Here put this on," Cole said as he offered Buffy/Paige his jacket.

"Uh, you keep it," Buffy/Paige said as Cole pinned her to the wall.

"I'm sorry. Am I making you feel... uncomfortable?" Cole said.

"No, of course not," Buffy/Paige said. "I was just wondering what Phoebe would think about this."

"Phoebe?" Cole asked.

Buffy/Paige nodded. "Uh, yeah. Your girlfriend, Phoebe. Remember?"

"Yes, see, the problem with Phoebe is she's so obsessed with training, she's not interested in - romance anymore," Cole said. "You on the other hand, strike me as being full of passion. Desire. I miss that."

"I gotta go," Buffy/Paige said as Cole kissed her.

Just then Phoebe/Buffy and Paige/Phoebe walked down the stairs.

"Hey!" Buffy/Paige said as she flipped Cole over. Both Phoebe/Buffy and Paige/Phoebe rushed over to her.

"How could you do this to me?" Phoebe/Buffy said.

Cole's eyes went wide with realization. "Phoebe?" He looked to Buffy/Paige. "Oh I was just trying to have a little fun. I thought the swap was just between Paige and Phoebe, not all three of you."

"You know?" Paige/Phoebe asked. "How do you know?"

"Well, for one thing you suck at levitating," Cole said. "And for another, you set me straight about the way I've been treating the real Phoebe as only a sister could."

"You did?" Phoebe/Buffy asked.

Paige/Phoebe nodded. "Someone had to."

"Okay, I'm going to go. Let you guys work this out," Cole said. "When you're yourself again, give me a call." He went to smack Phoebe/Buffy on her rear when he was spun around and Buffy/Paige decked him.

"Don't touch my body," Buffy/Paige said. "You do and I will have to deal with a hysterical sister because I vanquished you."

"Oh," Cole said and then nodded as he shimmered out.

"Okay, we've got to get back into our own bodies. I am even getting confused," Phoebe/Paige said..

"Piper, look out!" An-Ling called out from the kitchen.

Buffy/Paige, Phoebe/Buffy and Paige/Phoebe ran into the kitchen to find Yen-Lo attacking Piper and An-Ling who took out the dragon blade.

"The dragon blade?" Yen-Lo said as he attacked and cut An-Ling causing her to drop the dragon blade.

"Phoebe, stop him!" Piper shouted.

Paige/Phoebe levitated and started spinning in a circle as Yen-Lo took the dragon blade and escaped through the dishwater in the sink.

Phoebe/Buffy and Buffy/Paige pulled Paige/Phoebe down.

"Leo!" Piper called as Leo orbed in. "An-Ling's hurt." She pointed at Paige/Phoebe, Buffy/Paige and Phoebe/Buffy. "You three, follow me!"

"All right!" Piper said as they walked into the conservatory. "What the hell is going on?"

"I was soaking some potion pots in the sink and I forgot to drain them," Phoebe/Buffy said.

Piper shook her head. "That is not what I mean. I smell something witchy. Phoebe, what is wrong with your powers?" she asked but received no response from Paige/Phoebe. "Phoebe?"

"I'm over here," Phoebe/Buffy said as she raised her hand.

"Don't get mad at her or Buffy," Paige/Phoebe said. "This is all my fault."

"Yeah, but Paige," Buffy/Paige said, "Phoebe and I agreed to keep it secret."

Paige/Phoebe said. "Yeah, but I was the one that messed up the potion. I wasn't concentrating. I just guessed."

"Oh, my god! You guys switched bodies!" Piper shouted. "Are you out of your minds? What-with everything we have going on, you pull a stunt like this?"

"It was an accident," Phoebe/Paige said.

Piper frowned. "Accidents like that get people killed. We could have lost an innocent in there. What if it wasn't Yen-Lo? What if it was the Source that broke in? You could have gotten us all killed! Now we've lost our shot at Yen-Lo. We have no idea how to get to Limbo," she said. Suddenly she had an idea. "Wait a minute. Do, you remember what you put in that potion to switch bodies?" She pointed at Paige/Phoebe.

Paige/Phoebe nodded. "Buffy just picked up the ingredient we were missing."

"Good. Let's go," Piper said as they walked back into the kitchen. She, Leo and An-Ling watched as Phoebe/Buffy, Buffy/Paige and Paige/Phoebe put together the potion."

Piper looked at Phoebe/Paige. "All right, what else did you…" she then looked at Paige/Phoebe. "I mean you, put in this."

"Just the powdered toadstool," Paige/Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "All right soul sisters, back in your own bodies."

"I want to be me again," Buffy/Paige, Phoebe/Buffy and Paige/Phoebe said together as Buffy/Paige threw in the powered toadstool.

"Oh, it's nice to see you Buffy," Phoebe said.

Buffy smiled. "It's nice to be seen, Phoebe." She looked to Paige. "And it's nice to see you Paige."

"And it's nice to be seen, Buffy," Paige said. "My god, what did you have for dinner?"

"Kung Pao Chicken. Sorry," Buffy said.

"Okay," Piper said. "Not to cut this reunion short, but we don't have a lot of time. So the only person who knows how to enter Limbo is in Limbo himself. And since we can't get to An-Ling's father down there, my plan is to bring him up here. Or at least his soul."

"Wait, you want to swap souls with An-Ling's father?" Leo asked.

Piper nodded. "He's the only one who knows how to get in. Besides, it's the best way to surprise Yen-Lo."

Buffy shook her head. "It's too risky."

"I have to agree," Leo said. "There's gotta be another way."

"Did the Elders have any other ideas?" Piper asked as the phone rang.

"No," Leo said.

"Then there's not. Okay," Piper said as Buffy answered the phone.

"Halliwell residence," Buffy said. "Prue speaking."

_"Buffy, it's Willow."_

"Yeah, Will," Buffy said. "What did you find?"

_"The entrance to Limbo can be achieved through water. Water can act as a portal. But here is the problem. The discipline to create a portal into Limbo is only taught by one select group and it is handed down from master to apprentice."_

Buffy sighed. "Thanks, Will," she said as she hung up the phone. "Willow said that only people who can get us into Limbo are An-Ling, Yen-Lo and An-Ling's father." She looked to An-Ling. "The discipline is handed down only in your order, correct?"

An-Ling nodded. "Yes. I never mastered it."

"That means the only way as is to bring An-Ling's father here," Piper said as she took the powdered toadstool. "I want to be the Zen Master." She threw the powered toadstool in to the potion.

Zen Master/Piper. "You have a very brave sister."

"Father?" An-Ling asked.

Zen Master/Piper nodded. "Yes, An-Ling I'm here. We don't have much time. Where is the dragon blade?"

"I used it to fight Yen-Lo, but he knocked it out of my hands. Phoebe, did you pick it up?" An-Ling asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "No. Paige? Buffy?"

"I haven't seen it," Paige said.

"Neither have I," Buffy said.

"Then who has the dragon blade?" Zen Master/Piper asked.

Several minutes later Buffy, Phoebe and Paige walk into the attic with the dragon blade's sheath.

"This is all we could find," Phoebe said.

"Then Yen-Lo must have the dragon blade," Zen Master/Piper said as she waved her hand over a puddle. "And used it to capture your sister's soul."

"What does that mean? How do we get Piper back?" Leo asked.

"We need to get the dragon blade away from Yen-Lo," An-Ling said.

"Okay, so what are we waiting for? Show us the way," Phoebe said..

An-Ling shook her head. "I should go alone. Piper did this for me to save my father's life."

Zen Master/Piper looked at An-Ling curiously.

"No, she's our sister. We'll all go," Paige said. She then looked at Buffy. "You should probably stay."

Buffy shook her head. "I'll be careful. I'm not going to risk loosing Dawn."

"Is that what you were fighting to save? My life?" Zen Master/Piper asked.

"Of course, father. When we bring you back their Whitelighter can heal your wound. He's a miracle worker. I've seen him." An-Ling said.

"You are right. We should all go, but it is a different realm down there with new rules. Yen-Lo has had time to learn and adjust." Zen Master/Piper said.

"Fine, then let's go." Leo said.

"If you go, you risk being pulled into the vortex. Who would heal our injuries?" Zen Master/Piper said.

Phoebe nodded, "He is right, Leo. You should stay here."

Zen Master/Piper jumped in the puddle of water followed by Buffy and An-Ling.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Phoebe said as she and then Paige jump into the puddle of water.

"Piper!" Phoebe said as the sisters go over to the Zen Master's body.

"The dragon blade. Where is it?" Paige said.

"Quiet." Zen Master/Piper said.

"Look out!" Buffy called out.

Yen-Lo attacked Zen Master/Piper and kicked her to the edge of the vortex.

"Father!" An-Ling said as she went to save Zen Master/Piper.

"Welcome to my turf." Yen-Lo said.

"Look! Yen-Lo's belt." Paige said as she pointed to the dragon blade and it orbed into her hand. "I didn't even call for it. It just happened."

"Our powers must be expanded here." Phoebe said.

Buffy nodded. "You get Piper's soul out of the dragon blade."

Phoebe looked to Buffy. "I'm going to keep Yen-Lo busy. Maybe you should help Paige."

Buffy thought about it and then nodded. It made sense she could protect Paige while Phoebe fought Yen-Lo. "Be careful."

"I promise," Phoebe said as she ran toward Yen-Lo.

"Oh, it's you ... black belt Barbie." Yen-Lo said.

"You're going to be sorry you said that." Phoebe said as she levitated and kicked Yen-Lo up to a rocky mountain causing him to drop his sword.

"Buffy, what do I do?" Paige asked.

"Uh, I don't know." Buffy said. "Use your powers, orb her soul."

Paige nodded as she orbed Piper's soul out of the dragon blade. "Now what?" she asked.

"Put it back in the body," Buffy said as Paige put Piper's soul back in the Zen Master's body.

"Thanks for the lift, sweetie. Untie me," Piper/Zen Master said.

"We've got to do something," Paige said as she and Buffy untied Piper/Zen Master.

"What? I don't have the power in this body." Piper/Zen Master said. "But I have an idea." She looked pointedly at Buffy. "Hand Buffy the dragon blade."

Buffy took the dragon blade from Paige. "Phoebe, duck," she called out as Phoebe dropped to the ground. She telekinetically threw the dragon blade and watched in land in Yen-Lo's chest.

Suddenly Limbo changed into a beautiful garden.

"Oh my god, it's so beautiful. What happened?" Paige asked.

"Beats the hell out of me." Piper said as she walked towards them.

"Piper?" Buffy, Phoebe and Paige said.

Piper smiled at her sisters. "Yeah it's me."

"The natural order of things has been restored. Including our souls," the Zen Master said as he and An-Ling joined them.

"But how?" Piper asked.

"This was all a reflection on Yen-Lo's fears. Of a man afraid of crossing over. In truth, this is a peaceful place. Welcoming," the Zen Master said.

"We need to get you home and heal your wound." An-Ling said.

The Zen Master shook his head. "No. I was mortally wounded. It is my time to die, to be reborn."

"Their Whitelighter can heal," An-Ling said.

"An-Ling, you know better than to cling to the physical world. The way you clung to my hand on the bridge." Zen Master said.

"But you're my father." An-Ling said.

Zen Master nodded. "I'm no greater or less than anyone facing death. That's the only lesson that keeps you from being a true Zen Master. Death is a part of life. A transition, a rebirth, something that your young friends here have learned recently." He looked to Buffy who smiled as Phoebe handed the Zen Master the dragon blade. "Yes, Yen-Lo must be reborn too. It is the natural order of things." He started for the vortex.

"I love you." An-Ling said.

"And I'll always love you, An-Ling." The Zen Master said as he walked with the dragon blade through the portal and disappeared.

"Does anyone know how to leave here?" Paige asked.

An-Ling smiled. "I think I know how to do it now."

The next day Piper, Buffy and Paige walked through a San Francisco park as Piper quizzed them on the herbs they passed.

"Aloe plant: medical uses. Toro herbs: magical herb." Buffy said.

"St. John's Wart: Medicinal herb. Ragged robin: magical herb." Paige said.

"Cupid's Dart: Strictly aromatic." Buffy said.

"That one?" Piper asked as she pointed to an herb.

"That is Angelica." Buffy said.

Piper nodded. "And it's use?"

"I think it's used mostly to flavor fish." Paige said as they walked over to Leo and Phoebe who sat on a blanket.

"They both got every answer right." Piper said as Buffy and Paige bowed.

"Yeah!" Phoebe said as Buffy, Piper and Paige sat down. "So, uh, what inspired the turn around?"

"Well, I kind of liked the power boost I had in Limbo so it kind of made me want to work harder faster." Paige said.

"And," Buffy said. "I just need to learn all this. And stop relying on others for the information I need."

"But let's not forget," Piper said. "Willow can still be of help. After some research she did find out how to enter Limbo. Something we did not know."

"True," Buffy said.

"Uh, don't be in too big a hurry. Either of you. Trust me; you want to fight like hell to keep a life separate from magic." Phoebe said.

"Here, here." Piper said.

"I intend too," Buffy said as she smiled and rubbed her stomach. "I do after all want to live a long healthy life for Dawn, maybe even show her the world."


	6. Chapter 6: Size Matters

**Chapter 6: Size Matters**

"Hello?" Paige called out as she entered the Manor. "Is anybody home?"

"In here, Paige," Buffy called back as she watched Leo levitating. "Leo, you might …"

Leo opened his eyes and nodded as he floated to the ground as Paige entered the living room.

"Hey what's up?" Buffy asked.

"Well I wanted to see, Leo," Paige said.

"Me? Why?" Leo asked.

"Well, seeing that you're a Whitelighter and I'm part Whitelighter, I was hoping we could have a Whitelighter to part Whitelighter chat."

"Sure. Of course, sit down," Leo said as he and Paige sat down. "Buffy, why don't you hang around. Till more of Prue's memories surface you might have some of the same questions Paige has."

Buffy nodded as she sat in a chair opposite of Leo and Paige. "Okay."

"So, Leo, you have the ability to locate your charges, right?" Paige asked.

"Sometimes," Leo said.

"Sometimes?" Buffy asked.

"It largely depends on if I am actually sensing them and where they are. I can't sense someone in the underworld unless I am in the underworld," Leo said.

"And if you have a sixth sense for locating good, is it possible that I have one for locating evil?" Paige asked.

"You think you sensed evil?" Leo asked.

"I know that's possible as a Slayer. I could sense vampires nearby when I was out on patrol," Buffy said. "Is it possible for Paige to do that? Hey maybe Paige was called as my replacement when I died?"

"I would have to check," Leo said. "But I doubt that is possible. The Powers champions usually are not witches since they fall under the Elder jurisdiction."

"Anyways, I know this sounds silly, but there's this house that I walk by and I get this really bad feeling from," Paige said. "The problem is that I've already discussed it with Piper and Phoebe and they've dismissed it."

"So you want me to talk to them?" Leo asked.

"I hate to put you in the middle," Paige said.

"Well, it's part of my job," Leo said.

"Besides, it might not be a bad idea to check out the house," Buffy said.

"Okay, I'll talk to them when I sense their minds are in the right spot," Leo said.

Paige smiled. "Thank you," she said as Phoebe entered through the front door.

"Damn it!" Phoebe called out.

"Now would not be a good time," Leo said as they went over to Phoebe.

"I am only going to say this once," Phoebe said. "The real world better start showing me some respect. Otherwise, I am going to saving it every week."

"I take it you didn't get the job?" Buffy asked.

Phoebe nodded. "Bingo. And it was a position that a monkey could fill. Provided that the monkey could explain why it needed flexible work hours," she said as she looked at Paige. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I – It's my lunch break. I just –" Paige said.

"You're not still talking about the creepy house. Are you?" Phoebe asked. "Did you find out any new information?"

Buffy and I both think it's worth checking out," Leo said.

"Huh," Phoebe said. "Okay. Well, let's go. I mean, it's not like I have to be at work or anything."

"Yeah, but I do," Paige said. "Could we meet afterwards? Like 4? I'll give you the address. I just, uh, need, uh, pen and paper." Just then a pen and paper orbed into her hand and she wrote down the address. "I love being able to move stuff with my mind. I'll see you there later. Leo, thanks."

"Sure," Leo said as Paige left.

"You both really think she's on to something?" Phoebe asked.

"When I was a Slayer even when I could sense evil. I still trusted my instincts. Even if Paige can't actually sense evil. Her instincts about the so called creepy house could be right."

"I have to agree with Buffy," Leo said. "And I think we should support that."

"Okay," Phoebe said. "Well, then I'll go change into my work clothes and head over there. "

"Do you want me to go with you?" Leo asked. "I mean you don't even know what's there."

"I'll be with her," Buffy said. "This is what we do. Right, Pheebs?"

Leo and Phoebe looked at Buffy.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"You called me Pheebs," Phoebe said. "You never called me Pheebs before."

"Did Prue?" Buffy asked as Leo and Phoebe nodded.

"I guess I must have gotten another memory," Buffy said.

Later Phoebe knocked on the door of Paige's creepy house. She looked to Buffy when no one answered.

"Let's look around out here. I don't want to rush in if the people that live here are normal," Buffy said as they turned and started to walk away.

Just then the door opened of its own accord.

"That's not a good sign," Phoebe said.

"No it's not," Buffy said. "We better check it out."

They turned and walked into the house.

"Hello?" Phoebe called out.

"Anyone here?" Buffy called out.

They noticed a collection of little dolls with looks of horror on their faces. Phoebe picked up one as she got a premonition.

"What do you see?" Buffy asked as Phoebe dropped the doll.

"No!" a man, Gammill, shouted as he pointed an object at Buffy and Phoebe.

"Uh-oh!" Phoebe and Buffy said as they realized they had been shrunk down. They turn and ran.

"Where are you?" Gammill asked. "You can't have gone that far."

"Leo," Phoebe called out. "Leo."

"I doubt he can hear you," Buffy whispered.

"I see you," Gammill said as they ran behind a couch out of his reach. "Well, we'll see how long you last." He reached over and got the vacuum cleaner.

"Oh, this sucks," Phoebe said as Gammill turned on the vacuum.

Phoebe and Buffy grabbed on to the couch for dear life as Gammill tried to suck them into the vacuum cleaner.

"Watch out!" Gammill shouted as another man, Finn, entered. "Two of them are loose! Shut the door. Shut it!"

"What are you going to do with them when you find them?" Finn asked.

"Don't ask questions," Gammill said.

"The same thing you did with the other one?" Finn asked as Gammill shut off the vacuum cleaner.

"I said don't ask questions," Gammill said. "The other one. Still, that... that gives me an idea." He went and took out another woman he had shrunk who was covered in clay.

"Do you want me to—" Finn said.

"Shh," Gammill said.

"Is she trying to say help me?" Buffy whispered to Phoebe as she looked at the other woman.

"That's what it looks like to me," Phoebe said.

"The door is still open," Finn said.

"Shut it!" Gammill said as Finn shut the door. He then turned and set the woman down on a shelf. Then he and Finn left.

Phoebe and Buffy climbed up to the woman.

"Can you talk?" Buffy asked as the woman whimpered.

"Okay. Just close your eyes and don't tense up," Phoebe said as she kicked out and broke the clay as the woman started to collapse. "No, no. You can collapse later. We need you to run now. Can you do that?"

The woman nodded. "Yeah."

"We got to go before Gammill sees us," Buffy said as Gammill came up and trapped them under a can.

Gammill smiled. "Gotcha. I knew a witch could never resist saving an innocent," he said as someone knocked on the front door.

"Hello!"

"That sounds like Paige," Buffy whispered.

"Now what?" Gammill asked.

"Hello!" Paige called out.

"Another girl. Get her inside. Go get her. Get her!" Gammill said.

"Maybe we should just let them all go," Finn said.

"Since when did you develop a conscience?" Gammill asked. "Hmm? I never gave you one. Now what are you standing around for? Go! Go! Fetch!" Finn walked out of the room to answer the door as Phoebe started yelling. "Be quiet!" He then put them in a container.

Gammill left for a moment as he watched Finn leave with Paige. He then returned to Phoebe, Buffy and the woman. "Now where were we?" he asked as Leo and Piper orbed in. He turned and quickly hid.

"Piper!" Phoebe and Buffy called out trying to get Piper's attention. "Piper!"

But it was no use Piper couldn't hear them.

"You go that way. I'll go this way," Piper said as she looked around and found the demon's collection of small dolls. "Oh, weird."

"What a bizarre collection," Leo said. "I wouldn't touch. We should look for Buffy and Phoebe. I'll check upstairs." He checked upstairs to find nothing up there. No furniture, nothing. He returned downstairs. "There's nothing upstairs. I mean nothing. Anything down here?"

Piper shook her head. "No, nothing but a bunch of clays."

"I think we should get out of here. Check the Book of Shadows. I-I want to know what we're dealing with," Leo said.

"Well, whatever it is it better not require the Power of Three to vanquish it," Piper said as she and Leo orbed out.

"Well, well the Power of Three," Gammill said as he came out of hiding. "So you two are not just witched, but Charmed Ones. Nothing will make happier than to collect you all.

He proceeded to put Buffy, Phoebe and the woman into clay. "When your clay hardens, I'll fire up the kiln and once you're in the kiln, there'll be nothing left to save. Don't worry. I'll be back. Once I complete my collection," he said before leaving.

"Okay, good," Phoebe said. "Now that he's gone, we can focus on getting us out of here. Although, I do have to tell you I am not having the best day of my life."

"Yeah and I'm having it worse at this moment," Buffy said. "Not only may she, you and I end being backed. But so will Dawn."

"Don't panic," Phoebe said. "We're going to get out of this. We're definitely not losing my niece. By the way, why don't you talk to her?"

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Dawn," Phoebe said. "When I was in your body she talked to me. She's lonely, Buffy. Say something."

"It kind of wigs me out," Buffy said. "She shouldn't be able to talk. For what a couple years at least after she is born."

"That's the thing about magic," Phoebe said. "Besides while her body may still be a fetus. Her mind is that of a fourteen year old. It's possible she could be utilizing her powers."

Buffy sighed. "Alright. Once we're out of this."

As the clay hardened around them; Phoebe and Buffy worked at ways of not only getting free but vanquishing Gammill. And since they didn't have access to the Book of Shadows they were trying to come up with a spell of their own.

"How about small of mind," Buffy suggested.

"I like it," Phoebe said. "Kind of adds a touch of irony to the spell. We're calling him small when were the ones that are small."

An hour later Gammill returned with Piper and Paige who he had shrunken also and encased in clay. He lined up all five of them, including the woman. "Time to fire up the kiln," he said as he looked at the woman. "You're next." He took her over to the kiln.

"At least we came for the both of you," Piper said as Phoebe and Buffy groaned. "Phoebe, Buffy, Paige and I are here now. We have the power of four. Can either of you say a spell?" Phoebe and Buffy moaned indicating their clay had hardened enough to make talking hard to do. "Okay. We'll figure this out. Paige, let's go over our options."

"Options?" Paige said. "We have two: We're screwed and we're more screwed."

"We don't need negativity. We need solutions," Piper said.

Paige sighed. "Well, I'm sorry. I've never been shrunk and covered in clay before."

"Hey!" Piper said. "You wanted to be partners so work with me here. Okay? Or your right, we are screwed."

"Can't you blast your way out of it?" Paige asked.

"I tried. I can't move my hands," Piper said.

"I could call for something, but what would help?" Paige said. "What's the point of having powers if you can't use them."

"Wht abot obng?" Buffy mumbled.

"Obng?" Piper said. "Oh, what about orbing."

"Would Leo hear us?" Paige asked.

Piper shook her head. "No! You can orb!"

"Only in the same place," Paige said.

Piper smiled. "Well, that might work. The clay is still wet enough so it might collapse if you leave for a second."

Phoebe and Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Paige said. "Only one problem, I've never been able to orb at will before."

"But that doesn't mean that you can't," Piper said. "Just concentrate and relax."

"Relax?" Paige asked. "Are you kidding?"

Piper sighed. "Paige, just close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Feel the magic rising from a place of strength. Feel it building and building. Paige, you're our only hope," she said as Paige orbed out long enough for the clay that had encompassed to collapse.

"It worked," Paige said when she had orbed back in. "How cool was that?" Phoebe, Buffy and Piper moaned reminding them they were still trapped. "I know. I know. I'm coming." She then broke the clay around Buffy, Piper and Phoebe.

"He's about to put Claudia into the kiln," Phoebe said. "Piper freeze him."

Piper tried to freeze Gammill but it is obvious he is too big for her magic to effect. "Oh, he's way too big for my tiny magic."

"Do you think I can call for his wand?" Paige asked.

"Try it," Buffy said. "It's worth a shot."

"Just keep your voice down. If he hears us, we will be cooked," Phoebe said.

"And believe me I don't want either myself or Dawn cooked let alone you three," Buffy said.

"Wand. Wand," Paige called as the wand orbed to them.

Gammill turned around and noticed that they now had his wand.

"We need a spark," Paige said.

"Got it!" Buffy said as they used the wand to shrink Gammill.

"Uh-oh!" Gammill said as he realized he was in trouble.

"Can you freeze him now?" Phoebe asked as Piper froze Gammill.

Piper smiled. "Yup."

"What do you say we take him out Charmed Ones style?" Phoebe suggested.

"Don't we need a spell for that?" Paige asked.

"That was the good thing about being stuck in clay all day," Buffy said. "Phoebe and I had time to think of one. Repeat after us."

"Small of mind," Phoebe and Buffy said.

"Small of mind," Piper and Paige echoed.

"Big of woe," Phoebe and Buffy continued.

"Big of woe," Paige and Piper continued.

"The pain you caused," Phoebe and Buffy said.

"The pain you caused," Piper and Paige echoed.

"You now will know," Phoebe and Buffy finished.

"You now will know," Piper and Paige finished as Gammill disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Then suddenly Buffy, Piper, Phoebe and Paige grew back to their formal sizes along with the woman, Claudia.

"That's it?" Paige asked. "That's the spell you two spent all day working on?"

"Hey," Buffy said. "It worked. Didn't it?"

"Oh, my gosh. How did you do that?" Claudia asked.

Phoebe smiled. "The power of four."

"The power of point four," Piper said as she, Paige, Buffy and Phoebe laughed.

That evening at P3 Buffy, Paige, Phoebe, Piper and Leo sat at a booth listening to David Navarro.

"What do you guys think of the Spot?" Piper asked indicating the changes that the club had gone through to try and bring more customers in the door.

"Well, the club scored David Nararro," Phoebe said. "That's pretty impressive."

"I have to agree," Buffy said.

"I still can't get used to the white gauze," Leo said..

"Well, you don't have to," Piper said. "I told Treat that I just – I can't do it. Paige is right. It's trying way too hard to be hip. Which means it is five minutes away from being five minutes ago."

"Okay! To the old! Phoebe said as she raised her glass in a toast.

"What's the matter honey?" Piper asked, noticing that Paige looked downcast.

"The last time I was here, I was here with Finn," Paige said. "How do you guys get over these things?"

Buffy shook her head. "You don't."

Piper nodded in agreement. "But you learn with experience that you can't dwell on the losses. You kind of have to –"

"Harden your heart," Paige suggested.

"Protect your heart," Phoebe said.

Piper and Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Unfortunately, it's a fact of our lives that sometimes the good comes with a little sadness," Piper said.

"There was a lot of good, too," Leo said.

Phoebe smiled. "There was a lot of good. I mean my skin looks fabulous."

"And now that I've been five inches tall, I will never complain about my height again," Buffy said.

"Neither will I," Piper said as she looked toward Paige. "And nor will I doubt your instincts again."

Paige smiled. "Thank you."

"Okay, well then there's just one more thing that we need to tie up," Leo said.

"Oh, okay," Piper said as Leo led them out behind the club.

"Uh, Leo what are you looking for?" Buffy asked.

Leo smiled. "Something very important."

"Broken glass?" Paige wondered as she spotted the P3 sign.

Leo nodded. "Broken glass that needs healing. "It's up to you."

"Can you do it?" Piper asked as Leo nodded.

Phoebe looked at Buffy and Paige and a thought came across her mind. She whispered to Piper who nodded. Piper then whispered to Leo who smiled.

Leo held out his hands healing the sign. As it started to glow they noticed it now read P4.

"It looks like P4 is in business," Piper said as Paige and Buffy looked at her and Phoebe with astonishment.

"And on that note I have to talk to Buffy," Leo said.

"What about?" Piper asked.

"Buffy thought Paige might have been called as her replacement as a Slayer," Leo said, "when she died. And that was how Paige might have been able to sense the creepy house. Paige is not a Slayer. You are Buffy."

"What?" Buffy asked. "But that's …"

"When the Powers placed you in Prue's body, it had an unintended side effect," Leo said. "The Slayer spirit came with you."

"But I don't have my Slayer powers," Buffy said.

"Since you now fall under the jurisdiction of the Elders," Leo said. "Like any other magical powers you will get them back as you grow and learn. You already have one, the instinctual knowledge of how to fight that every Slayer has. And with time you will get back your strength, speed, healing ability and of course the Slayer dreams or to be more precise a more advanced form of them in the form of premonitions, like Phoebe has."

"Wow," Piper, Paige, Phoebe and Buffy said.

"Making you truly a Slayer reborn," Leo said.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I originally had planned on not doing a Slayer/Witch as I've done that in other Charmed crossovers. Another Halliwell and Last Halliwell have Buffy being a Slayer/Witch. A Charmed Summers has Buffy being a Slayer/Gypsy, making her still magical just not having a power. But I changed my mind. If I did it slowly and tried to tie in the activation of certain abilities, her strength for example to plot points then it could be worked differently.


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